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THE AWAY
END - FRATTON PARK 15-9-08
John Powls
The Build Up To The Game
Unlike everywhere else at the moment, this column will be a Sid James's Park-free zone!
The week leading up to the match was dominated by international fixtures that saw several of the Boro squad called into action.
The fortunes of the Boro trio called up were mixed to say the least, with memorable victories on the one hand being balanced with frustrating injuries on the other.
Poggy put in good performances for Austria, the highlight being a 3-1 victory over France in Vienna. The recent Euro 2008 co-hosts then slumped to a disappointing defeat at the hands of Lithuania but Poggy at least managed to come through unscathed.
Unfortunately, this was more than could be said for Tuncay who lasted less than fifteen minutes in Turkey’s match against Belgium after a heavy clash of knees. After a promising start to the week - with a goal scored against Armenia - the Turkish forward was ruled out of Boro's impending clash with Pompey.
Stewie’s England call-up was also bitter sweet. The victory over Andorra was laboured, as was his performance, but he at least got a game for his country, something that he was denied in the midweek victory over Croatia when Joe Cole was preferred.
Overall, it was certainly not the best week for Stewie, especially with the ugly financial business with his former agent still dragging on.
This certainly left me hoping that he would be all the more eager to do something positive during the team’s trip to the south coast.
Of course, I was also hoping that Pompey’s Jermain Defoe wouldn’t be quite so fired up by his time warming the bench for Eng-er-lund. In hindsight, that was a bit optimistic!
On the website forums, congratulations were rightly expressed to Gate for his Manager of the Month award, a title well earned by our promising start to the season.
Discussions about the team selection for the Pompey game focused on the possible inclusion of Johnno and whether or not he would be given a chance in the right wing position given the recent talk of his frustration at not getting a game.
Reports of Johnno’s grievances have doubtless been exaggerated by the media but most agreed that he deserved a shot at the first team. This left everyone debating the old chestnut of who would have to make way and how Johnno could play on his favoured left wing. Jury still out on this one!
Predictions for the outcome of the game were mainly for a score draw, driven by Pompey’s poor home record and Boro’s equally bad recent history of away results.
Despite Pompey having put three past Everton at Goodison last time out in the League, there was a mood of cautious optimism, with hopes that Gary O’Neil may even get his first goal for Boro against his former team.
The mid-week injury to Tuncay, the unavailability of Emnes and Shawky, and the ongoing recovery of Wheater from tonsillitis meant that Gate would have some enforced decisions to make regarding the team sheet.
The same was true for Harry Redknapp, who was without midfield playmaker Niko Kranjcar in addition to wide men Jerome Thomas and Glen Little.
In other news, Sheffield Wednesday manager Brian Laws stated his interest in extending the loan period for Boro full-back Tony McMahon. His form would make a view on how Justin Hoyte was settling in interesting.
The Game
The old man is sunning himself in Portugal and has got me to be his stringer for this game. But he still paid for the tickets, so I can’t complain!
Arriving at the ground in the nick of time and still reeling from having just had to pay ten hard earned pounds to park up, I sat down according to Fratton Park’s “musical chairs” away fans seating policy by grabbing the first one I could find.
Having had no time to pick up a traditional gristle burger from a mobile kitchen outside the ground, I was in desperate need of sustenance from a good Boro performance.
Although there were some early positives, namely that The Away End shanty still had a roof which I had half expected to have been blown away since our last League visit to Pompey in December.
Looking out on to the pitch, I could see that Gate’s team selection was largely as expected. Chris Riggott filled in for Wheater at centre-back alongside Robert Huth whilst Digard made his first League start to play in the centre of midfield with Gary O’Neil.
Also, Jeremy Aliadiere achieved his fiftieth league start on the right wing.
Gate’s Red and White Army in The Away End were in fine voice from the start and really got behind the Boro back line that was defending the goal in front of the travelling fans during the first half.
It wasn’t long before the Boro defence needed the support, with Defoe having an early crack at goal, forcing Ross Turnbull into the first save of the match.
This set the trend for the early exchanges of the game, with Defoe looking to capitalise on knock downs from Crouch and Boro playing mainly on the counter.
With the height of Crouch in the box, crosses were the order of the day for the Pompey wingers, who tested the Boro defence early on.
Although Huth struggled in the aerial battle with Crouch, both centre-backs defended the resulting knock downs well and managed to limit the number of chances given to the home side.
When the crosses came raining in from the wings, Ross Turnbull did well to command his area and claimed many of the balls hit into the box before there was a chance for real danger.
Despite the endeavour of the Pompey forwards, Boro kept their heads and held the home side at bay. The resulting frustration showed itself when Defoe lashed out with a petulant kick at Huth after a challenge and was rightfully booked on the spot.
Having weathered the early storm, Boro’s good defensive work soon paid off when a ball hit up-field by Chris Riggott found Afonso Alves.
Having advanced to the edge of the area, with good pace and control the Brazilian knocked the ball into the run of Mido. His neat finish under pressure put the ball beyond a flailing David James at his near post to give Boro the lead.
Besides a half chance that had fallen to Alves in the opening minutes, this was Boro’s first real chance and it was certainly a testament to the sharpness of both Alves and Mido that they made it count.
From this point onwards, Boro looked more assured in the first half and enjoyed a larger share of the possession.
Although they struggled to create further chances, the midfield at least started to string a few more passes together and our efforts at the back continued to frustrate the Pompey attack, limiting them to shots from outside the area. Most of these flew wide.
Chris Riggott in particular was having a good game, looking alert and, on more than one occasion, defusing Pompey’s play inside the box.
The half-time whistle was met with applause by the The Away End.
Improvements in passing and movement would have to be made for the second half if we were going to keep Pompey out for ninety minutes but we had seen a good Boro performance under pressure nonetheless.
Two substitutes and a change of formation for Portsmouth at half time seemed to give them renewed energy at the start of the second half.
Most notably John Utaka came on to fill the right wing position of Pompey’s new 4-4-2 formation.
With his inclusion adding pace to the Portsmouth midfield, Boro once again had to weather an early storm.
At first the Reds showed signs of countering this pressure, with an Alves shot from inside the box going just wide.
However, as the work rate of the Pompey midfield increased, Boro began to struggle. The lack of possession became telling and allowed Portsmouth to put together attacks that consisted of more than just long balls and crosses in to Crouch.
Boro laboured to create a foothold in the game but after less than fifteen minutes of the second half, Pompey made their growing superiority count as Crouch set up Defoe to beat Ross Turnbull at his near post with a quick finish from inside the area.
The goal was made contentious by Mido being on the floor after having received an injury to his eye seconds earlier, and by Digard still not having being allowed to return from the sidelines after receiving treatment.
Despite this, there were no real protests and by now the sinking feeling started to set into The Away End.
As Boro’s attempts at attacking faltered and Pompy’s midfield began to boss the possession, it was increasingly a case of “backs against the wall”.
Diarra was a thorn in Boro’s side all afternoon. His attacking runs and passing were a major factor in keeping the Teessiders pinned back for the majority of the second half. As they tried to counter this threat, the passing in our own midfield deteriorated, constantly giving the initiative back to Portsmouth.
Later on, Gate made a couple of changes. Firstly Tayls came on to replace an injured Digard and with six minutes to go, Mido was taken off to be replaced by Johnno. Neither substitute really made an impact on the flow of the game, with both looking out of place.
As Johnno took up position on the right wing, Aliadiere moved in to a more forward role. However, due to the lack of possession, he was given little opportunity to exploit his pace and take pressure off the defence in the closing minutes.
The Away End continued to get behind the lads as they had done for the entire game but the mentality was now very much one of holding out for a point rather than pushing on to take all three.
Portsmouth continued to press but they needed some help from Boro to finally get the winning goal.
A ball launched into the box was headed around a couple of times before an attempted challenge on the edge of the box by Stewie sent it flying to the feet of Defoe. He finished coolly past a helpless Ross Turnbull at close range.
Another late goal conceded, another lead given up, another game lost.
With my head in my hands, all I could do was listen to the Pompey fans sum it up with the inevitable “1-0, and you f****ed it up!”
If only I had a pound for every time I’ve had to sit there and listen to that, I wouldn’t have to worry about overpriced parking at the grounds any more.
Despite all my frustration at the result and the way it came about, I still had to concede that the better team won.
Boro never really got started in the second half and after their passing had broken down almost completely, they had no right to expect a way back into a game that could have turned out differently had it not been for the same old missing components in the Boro team.
Later...
The MotD analysis – back in Boro’s usual ‘late, late show’ slot - was brief and focused mainly on Defoe’s brace of goals.
In his brief interview, Gate commented that refereeing decisions had played a part in the defeat but in other interviews with Sky Sports, he conceded that our lack of possession was the main reason for Boro not posing enough of a threat to Pompey.
Still, it was interesting to see Mido and Alves feature in what are becoming Boro’s nailed on two places in ‘Goal of the Month’.
In an interview with the MFC official website, Gate once again mentioned the importance of not conceding possession so cheaply and says that this is another lesson that must be learned.
Whilst I’m glad that he seems to have picked up on this problem, I’m also concerned about the fact that learning lessons isn’t something that comes easily to Boro. Specifically, the lesson of concentrating for the whole game and not conceding sloppy late goals that undo any hard work that has gone before.
Watching the game on Saturday, I could see another lesson being taught to us. The eventual dominance of the Pompey midfield showed how lacking we are of an attacking central midfielder. Watching the impressive Diarra, I hope that Gate finally learns that bringing in such a player remains the priority it has been for the last two seasons.
On Hoyte – I think it’s early days but pressure on his place from Tony Mc and Williams will be useful.
Having no drive down the centre really hurts us and makes the team overly dependent on its wingers. It seems that when Stewie doesn’t contribute enough we struggle. This was the case on Saturday.
This certainly isn’t a criticism of Stewie but when using the wide men isn’t working, Boro need other options. At the moment we just don’t have them.
The game against Pompey was far from the worst performance I’ve ever seen so it’s important to look at the positives.
Mido looked sharp and contributed plenty more in addition to his well taken goal.
At the back, the defence looked solid enough and will no doubt be further improved if Wheats makes a prompt return to the team.
Turnbull also had a good game overall so it could be that Gate’s policy of creating competition for places in the team is starting to pay off. Once again it’s all promise but there is a way to go until Boro can fully realise it.
The depths of disdain by the Nationals for Boro was shown by the coverage in the Sundays and Mondays, most of which managed to contain a match report without mentioning Boro at all!
The Away End will return after the lunchtime showdown with The Mackems on 20th September when writing duties will pass back to the Old Man!
BACK TO THE AWAY END
INDEX
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John Powls is a published poet with five books of his work in
print. He is a regular performer of his work at major literary
festivals and exhibitions in the UK and America, often working
with musicians, painters with photographer Carol Ballenger.
Check out Red Shoes 250 for more of John Powls, right
here.
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