What I.Saw - "Let's All Have A Disco"
Monday, 23rd Apr 2012 15:03 by I.Saw

The Rams ended their 11/12 travels and a run of two consecutive defeats by finalising Portsmouth’s stay in the Championship. RamZone match reporter I.Saw was on hand to cover a day of mixed emotions.

Portsmouth 1 vs. 2 Derby

Fratton Park

21st April 2012

Ref:

Michael Naylor

Crowd:

17,770

Derby:

Fielding (GK) (Legzdins 46); Brayford, Shackell, Buxton, Roberts; Ward, Hendrick, Bryson, Tyson (Bennett 79); S. Davies, Robinson (Hughes 68).

Unused Subs: Bailey, Carroll.

Goals: Buxton 41’, S.Davies 78’ (penalty)

Portsmouth:

Ashdown, Ward, Rocha, Pearce, Halford; Norris, Rekik, Allan; Kitson, Varney, Harris (Futacs 60).

Unused Subs: Mokoena, Etuhu, Magri, Webster.

Goals: Varney (surprise, surprise!!) 74’

Match Stats: Pompey - Rams

Possession: 48% - 52%

Shots On Target: 9 - 6

Shots Off Target: 7 - 4

Corners: 3 - 7

Fouls: 16 - 16

Most Fouls: Kitson (3) - Hendrick (5)

I. Saw’s Match Report:

Early morning, fire up the car, engage gear and let the sat nav take the strain.

Roads rumble by, the average speed cameras on the M1 are king.

M25 for once slips painlessly past.

The A3 chosen over the M3 but boy can that sat nag!

The female voice intoning “take the next exit and fourth turn off the roundabout”.

It’s almost a mantra - one we avoid.

Eventually she sees sense and we settle.

No more Devil’s Punchbowl a tunnel instead and Portsmouth appears.

Backstreet parking, the Sheppard’s Crook, beers courtesy of Steve Hudson, chat courtesy of Thomas Baardseng.

Comic costumes courtesy of the travelling Rams fans end of season party.

We had Smurfs, Mario’s, Pirates and blokes in Tutu’s and a wag who asked the two “Uniforms” what they had come as. Good humour guaranteed.

Fratton Park, sunshine and rain, Derby playing for pride, Pompey playing for survival and praying for a miracle.

End to end stuff with no ending…or at least no finish with Nathan Tyson still looking for a goal.

When one comes it’s a surprise, Jamie Ward’s corner headed home by hero Jake Buxton with five minutes to half time.

Half time - a chance to sit having stood throughout.

Ward booed after upsetting the locals while Frank Fielding is subbed with a groin injury as the Rams go in a goal up.

Game back underway and Adam Legzdins replaces Fielding before Luke Varney clatters into the Rams replacement keeper, a cream bandage and free kick the outcome.

Despite Bristol City winning elsewhere, Pompey gave it their all, Scott Allan rasped the crossbar with everybody beaten whilst Dave Kitson version of giving his all was to foul his way through the game, oh how we laughed when from eight yards out he fired over and somehow kept the ball in the ground.

With no Chris Maguire in the Portsmouth side it fell to Varney to equalise, shrugging off Jason Shackell and beating Buxton, the ex-Ram coolly slotted the ball home to level the scores.

Not for long though, Ward under the merest of touches went down in the box and Steve Davies wrapped the match up for Derby from the penalty spot.

Wil Hughes had a brief cameo and showed the skills we have been missing whilst Mason Bennett had all of forty five seconds upfront before earning the wrath of Clough and had to revert to playing on the right side.

Full credit to the home fans, relegated and broke they partied with “Let's all have a Disco” echoing round Fratton Park.

As to Derby only two questions remain. Will Tyson score a goal this season and secondly do we care?

Personally if he never pulled on a White shirt again I’d be more than happy.

Manager’s Reaction:

Nigel was happy to get a win on their last road trip of the season:

"To round off our away campaign with a win is hugely pleasing, especially as it was exactly what we deserved and certainly on the strength of our second half display. We had enough chances and situations during the game to warrant the victory although I think we could have been a little bit better in the final third once again.”

"It was good to see Jake Buxton get a goal from a corner because we've not scored enough from set-pieces this season and while the penalty that Steven Davies converted was a little bit soft; we've not had too many of those decisions go in our favour this season.”

"We had to come through a few spells of pressure in the game but I thought in the end we were worthy of the win although we probably didn't play as well as we have in our previous three away games at Bristol City, Leeds United and Cardiff City - but we could have had 12 points from our last four away games.”

"It's nice for the players after two straight defeats to get back to winning ways and we can now look forward to the last game of the season against Peterborough United at Pride Park. I'm also delighted for the fans that we won today, we had a great following behind us and it was nice to give them something to shout about on the long journey back home."