Pompey haven't been beaten at Burnley since March 1982 but yesterday I just felt that, given the confidence gained from winning the last three games coupled with their poor away record, it might be time to bring that run to an end.
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| A Chris McCann shot - closest we came to a goal |
We didn't and in truth never really looked like doing whilst once again we surrendered all three points with a stoppage time goal, now the fourth time we've done that this season.
I've missed two of the three wins recently, those at Hull and West Ham, but I saw the last home game when we murdered an albeit poor Ipswich side. Even so we played exceptionally well that night and so there was much to be confident about going into yesterday's game.
Eddie Howe made two changes to the team that had started at West Ham. Dean Marney had returned and done well last week, but he found himself back on the bench as we returned to a 4-4-2 system with Sam Vokes coming back into the side.
Ross Wallace was also back in the starting eleven and it was Keith Treacy rather than Junior Stanislas who missed out. That decision surprised me as did the fact that Treacy, a player who has been bang in form in recent weeks, didn't even make the bench. Wallace started on the right with Stanislas on the left hand side.
Howe explained after the match that he needed a more balanced bench which saw the return from injury of both Charlie Austin and Martin Paterson, both of whom came on during the second half of what really did prove to be a frustrating game.
There is very little positive that can be said about our first half performance. We didn't create a solitary opportunity against a Portsmouth side who set their stall out to spoil, waste time and basically disrupt the game at any given opportunity.
Having said that, they could and most definitely should have taken an early lead. A ball in from the right led to Lee Grant having to make a save. He parried out but when Kieran Trippier missed his clearance it presented Luke Varney with a golden opportunity. He missed the ball too and that allowed Trippier to get the ball away.
Not too long after he was causing his problems again. This time he got the ball over the onrushing Grant and the two clashed. I feared the worst as referee Steve Rushton manoeuvred forward. Could Grant get a red card? Instead he amazingly awarded us a free kick, a decision that even now I find baffling, whilst Varney required treatment before leaving the field.
The former Crewe player upset the Burnley crowd in the Longside as he quickly got back to his feet and back onto the pitch but he was clearly unable to continue and was soon on his way off, giving the Longside a wave as he left, to be replaced by Erik Huseklepp.
We weren't at the half way stage in the first half but that was about it, apart from one Grant save that he parried and then had to react quickly as it spun back towards goal.
It had been a dire half of football; I'd say as bad as anything this season. Neither side offered much although Portsmouth would have been by far the happier as they were half way to the point they so clearly set out to get.
I hoped there would be some changes ahead of the second half but we came back out with the same players in the same formation and in truth there was very little improvement.
There was some improvement because we actually got a shot on target and it was a good effort too. Michael Duff played a ball up field which Vokes sidestepped to allow it to go through to Jay Rodriguez who flicked it on for Chris McCann to fire in a low shot from outside the box. Stephen Henderson got down to save well.
At the other end, Huseklepp hit a shot from the right that went just wide of the far post with referee Rushton, by now becoming as easy to predict as it is to select six winning lottery numbers, strangely awarding a corner.
Howe introduced Paterson for Stanislas. It's the first time he's played since the opening day of the season and he received a fantastic reception. In truth he offered very little but did make a major contribution to what proved to be the closest we came to breaking the deadlock.
It came about when the assistant referee astonishingly awarded us a corner when Henderson caught the ball. The Pompey goalkeeper was far from happy with the decision and stormed towards the assistant to remonstrate.
Paterson spotted it, reacted quickly, and worked a short corner with Wallace with the latter getting in an early cross with Henderson frantically trying to get back. The cross was a beauty for David Edgar but the central defender could only head wide.
That was our last opportunity to win the game and the only other entertainment was Wallace doing his damndest to move the ball as far away from the quadrant as he could to take a corner. Even the hapless Rushton eventually put an end to that.
"Respect the point," Sam Allardyce said last week, highlighting that you should ensure you don't lose the game, and this was a game we should not have lost. If either side deserved to win it then you'd have to say Portsmouth but so poor was it that it had 0-0 stamped on it all afternoon.
Reading and Leeds at home as well as Birmingham away. Now we can add Portsmouth to the teams who have scored stoppage time winners against us this year, and this one from Norris was so avoidable.
It came via a long kick up field from Henderson. Ben Mee won the header in the left back position but Marvin Bartley inexplicably allowed Norris to get onto the ball. Once in possession we didn't close him down quickly enough and that allowed him to get his shot away into the bottom corner.
We simply cannot keep switching off like this. This goal should not have happened, but the same could be said for those other three late goals that have cost us.
We were never better than a point yesterday in what really was a dreadfully disappointing performance, but we should have ensured we got it.
Portsmouth came to stop us playing and did so with some ease. We surrendered the midfield; we never got a thing from either flank where the two wide men, Wallace and Stanislas, were awful. In the end we just lumped the balls up to Vokes and he didn't have any success whatsoever against their defence.
It's glass half full or empty time I guess after this. For those with their glass half empty it will be to look back on a dire ninety minutes of football. For those with it half full it will be to see that we've won nine points from the last four games.
I'm off to fill my glass to the brim ready for Brighton next week.
The teams were;
Burnley: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, David Edgar, Ben Mee, Ross Wallace, Marvin Bartley, Chris McCann, Junior Stanislas (Martin Paterson 59), Sam Vokes (Charlie Austin 74), Jay Rodriguez. Subs not used: Jon Stewart, Brian Easton, Dean Marney.
Portsmouth: Stephen Henderson, Greg Halford, Ricardo Rocha, Jason Pearce, Joe Mattock, Hayden Mullins, George Thorne, Joel Ward, David Norris, Luke Varney (Erik Huseklepp 20), Dave Kitson. Subs not used: Jamie Ashdown, Aaron Mokoena, Marko Futacs, Benjani.
Yellow Cards: Dave Kitson, Joe Mattock.
Referee: Steve Rushton (Staffordshire).
Attendance: 13,411.