Thursday, September 2, 2010

Portsmouth ease pain with first victory of the season, while Chelsea look to bounce back in big clash with Liverpool today

Portsmouth got a glimpse of some light at the end of a very dark tunnel as the crisis-hit club finally claimed their first points of the season.

At the end of a week in which the failure to pay September salaries on time raised concerns the club could be on the brink of bankruptcy, a first-half goal from Hassan Yebda was enough to draw a line under a run of seven straight defeats for Paul Hart’s side. And the Pompey boss was overjoyed to have finally get three points.

“We’ve waited a long time for it,” Hart said. “It’s one win and we have got to build on that and start climbing the table. We played some great stuff in the first half and defended absolutely brilliantly in the second.”

The clash was a close run thing with Wolves denied what appeared to be a blatant penalty after the interval and only a superb David James save denying the home side an equaliser in the dying seconds.

From the start Portsmouth were knocking the ball around with a confidence that belied their lowly position and Wayne Hennessey was forced to make a good save from Kevin-Prince Boateng’s shot on the turn.

Then 18 minutes into the clash Boateng delivered a fine cross from the right and midfielder Yebda  steered a confident header past Hennessey.

The Wolves goalkeeper then had to pull off a full-stretch stop to prevent Ivorian Aruna Dindane, who had been released by Tommy Smith’s through pass, from doubling the Pompey lead.

In the second half Hart’s men coped well with the limited threat posed by the home side and deserved the much-sought after victory.

While Hart may well have slept well last night, his opposite number Mick McCarthy was left a worried man with his Wolves side now just one point off the relegation zone.

“I know Paul Hart well, but I’m not happy for him. I can’t be. I wanted to heap more misery on him today.

“Sympathy is in short supply here,” the dejected McCarthy said afterwards.

Wolves: Hennessey, Elokobi (Maierhofer 80), Berra, Mancienne, Foley (Kightly 46), Edwards, Henry, Halford, Jarvis, Keogh (Ebanks-Blake 46), Doyle
Portsmouth: James, Kaboul, Finnan, Ben-Haim, O'Hara, Brown, Boateng, Yebda (Mokoena 78), Wilson, Smith (Vanden Borre 90), Dindane (Webber 73)