I.Saw's Match Report - Into The Portsmouth Of Madness
Sunday, 6th Feb 2011 11:56 by I.Saw

A last minute goal, made the Rams week a little bit worse but luckily for us I.Saw was there, to lodge his report in verse.

Portsmouth 1 vs. 1 Derby County

Saturday 5th February 2011

Fratton Park - Portsmouth

Referee:

N. Swarbrick

Attendance:

14,555

Teams:

Pompey

Ashdown, De Laet, Mokoena, Halford, Hreidarsson, Mullins, Hogg, Ward (Kanu 69), Lawrence, Nugent, Kitson

Unused Substitutes: Flahavan, Sonko, Rocha, Dickinson, Kilbey, Ciftci

Yellow Cards: Hogg, De Laet

Goals: Nugent (90)

Rams

Bywater, Brayford, Barker, Addison, Roberts, Bailey (Savage 58), Green, B Davies, Pearson (Pringle 88), Cywka, S Davies (Porter 72)

Unused Substitutes: Deeney, Bueno, Doyle

Yellow Cards: B Davies, Cywka

Goals: S Davies (34)

I.Saw’s Match Report:

Saturday morning.

Cold, wet, windy, Winter howls.

Duvet offers warmth, memory foam discourages movement.

Throw off lethargy.Drive.

Vacant Roadworks. Average Speed Cameras.

Over two hundred miles. Over three hours.

DVT in cars, is it possible? You wonder about it. Maybe it's my age.

Portsmouth. Friendly fans. A club struggling to survive.

Talks turns to Owners, ours American, yours?

Death of football clubs, quick painless administration or long slow suffocation through lack of funds. Which do you prefer?

There is no obvious conclusion.

Fratton Park a tip.

Plastic curtains instead of a door to the Ladies, we Gents have a wall to wet upon.

Fratton Park, cold, wet, windy, Winter howls. Wind in our faces, rain in the stands, choppy hot chocolate abounds.

The Rams kick off, formation unknown, so low we could be sitting in limbo. Four Four Two someone says they could be right.

Trawling weather, makes for mistakes, Brayford slices the ball over the biggest stand.

Eventually another ball, like magic, after the referee waves an imaginary wand.

Addison in the centre slow from the offset, injured perhaps. Portsmouth look dangerous, throws longer than Delap's.

Thomasz Cwyka chases a ball, touchline, a world class pull back, barely a glance. Steven Davies, a leg off the floor, contact.

Contact. Contact and the ball is steered home.

Belated, belated, belated we cheer.

Delayed reaction, the cold, the rain, the lack of beer?

Or maybe it's the surprise. The surprise associated when watching a game that promised a cure for insomnia had it been warm.

Warming to our lead, we make it to half time, our lead intact. Pompey though the better side that's a fact.

Interval without drinks, our subs warm up, well apart from Savage who acts like a ….

Second half and we weather attacks. Bailey is off and Savage adds to the cracks....

Then it's Stephen Davies tiring who gets pulled off, Porter his replacement welcome as a hacking cough.

The wind blows West, the wind blows East, Bywater kicks it into the stands more frequently than the number of bananas sold by Geest.

Pressure from Pompey, eleven man defence. Kick it anywhere a mantra of circumstance.

A ploy that fails time and time again. Pringle sub for Pearson what's the gain?

Nugent volleys home, minutes to go, scores level it's no more than Portsmouth deserve. We stood off and stood off and got our just desserts.

Three and a half hours later. Clough's comments are known, “Cwyka is a dummy he cost us the game”.

Well from this “supporter” Nigel your name is in the frame.

After all, a manager who continually tells his employees they are crap....

In my mind it's not the players it's the manager who deserves the slap...

Managers Reaction:

You can listen to Nigel’s reaction to the match and his outburst regarding Tomasz Cywka on BBC Radio Derby by clicking here.

When speaking to the official site, he was much more measured in his criticism:

"Without question, it is a kick in the teeth not to come away with a win.”

"We would have settled for a point before the game, but when you get so close to winning it is gutting not to hold on.”

"We were under the cosh early on, especially with the wind, but we defended well and it was a boost to go in at the break a goal to the good.”

"There were a few scares for us, but to be honest Stephen Bywater didn't have that much to do today.”

"When you get to the 90th minute and you're holding on to a 1-0 lead, you need to see it out, but again we came up short and we need to show a bit more experience in each position."

"We have been lacking goals and someone that can finish up front, and he showed today exactly why we've missed him, Steven has a big role to play for us up front, especially as we're short of options in that department at the moment.”

"He looked a little rusty still at times, but after so long out that is to be expected."

"We want to get players in as quickly as we can, and we will be on the phone again to follow up the conversations we had last week, to step things up again".

"Daniel Ayala is set to come in when he is fit, and we would like a couple of centre forwards too."

Goal Scorer's Reaction:

Steve Davies was pleased to be back in the starting line-up as well as on the scoresheet. Plus he seemed a little more appreciative of Cwyka and his efforts:

"It was a great ball in from Tomasz and, luckily for me, the defender slipped in front of me so I managed to get a good contact on the ball and get it past the goalkeeper.”

"It was nice to start today first and foremost; the goal was just a bonus for me, but it has done my confidence the world of good.”

"I've worked extremely hard in the last six months to get myself into a situation where I was able to start a game again, and I'm glad I repaid the manager's belief in me with a goal."

"My first target now has to be getting out on the pitch on a regular basis, and if the goals come then I'll be made up. My aim is to keep going and get on that team sheet, it is a priority after the injuries I've had."

"To drop two points is gutting, that is the way it is going for us right now, we did well for 89 minutes but a lack of concentration has been punished. We're all disappointed we didn't the win, but a point is a good result for us and a starting point to build on.”

"It is a deflating feeling, but come next Saturday against Leicester City at Pride Park we will be ready to go again and we will do all we can to get the points."