Well, the last time we spoke about Portsmouth FC, the Blues had just won away at Hull City. Fortunately for me, not a lot has happened at Fratton Park since then...
October: Cotterill pushes Blues into play-off picture
Well from that Hull win, it was a great end to October with a two-one win over a youthful Nottingham Forest. Making it seven games unbeaten and four wins on the spin, goals from the improving Ibrahima Sonko and the up-and-coming talisman Liam Lawrence cancelled out a fine header from Paul Anderson to give Cotterill's boys a fine win and an exceptional October. Having started the month languishing in the lower reaches of the Championship, they went into November in tenth place, with the month also seeing Pompey finally taken over by Balraim Chainrai. But what goes up...
November: Reality Check
The following month saw Pompey given a reality check. After a great run, they travelled to Pride Park to face in-form Derby County in a televised clash. But with Pompey also on a great run, it should be a good tussle, yes? No. Pompey faltered under the Sky cameras and fell down two-nil to an enterprising and energetic Rams side, who capitalised on a poor performance from the southerner's defence to push them further down the table into thirteenth. A first defeat in seven hit the Blues, but they had the perfect chance to get back to good form with the visit of league leaders QPR to Fratton Park. The Hoops had been stuttering of late despite remaining unbeaten, and Pompey took a second half lead; Matt Connolly dragging down Dave Kitson in the box, getting sent off and Liam Lawrence scoring a retaken penalty. But Pompey's luck turned when Rangers won a questionnable penalty in the final minutes; Lawrence penalised for a handball and returning Tommy Smith struck to make it one-one at the end.
was to come in the following two games. Doncaster took all three points from Fratton Park but it wasn't half the story; James Hayter and James Coppinger gave Rovers a two-goal lead but second-half strikes from Joel Ward and David Nugent brought the Blues level and in search of an unlikely winner. But David Healy's long-range strike gave the travellers a three-two win on the south coast, then to make it worse, a trip to Barnsley ended fruitless. Adam Hammill's early strike was enough to see a fatigued Pompey side fall to a poor one-nil defeat and fall to sixteenth spot.
Luckily, the month ended on an unexpected high. A trip to promotion chasing Swansea City would have been one of the last chosen fixtures for an out-of-sorts Pompey, but they came away with an incredible victory. James Beattie may have given the Swans a second-minute lead, but goals from David Nugent and Greg Halford gave the Blues a deserved win. A good end to a bad month.
December: It's a Snow Go
victory at the Liberty Stadium should have given Pompey the impetus to push on in the league, but unfortunately Mother Nature literally dumped on that idea. Home games against Burnley and Scunthorpe were both postponed due to the snow, meaning the club has gone a whole month now without a home game. One match did slip through the icy net, an away tie at Norwich, and what a result. A two-nil win at the play-off hopefuls, thanks to a wonderful David Nugent performance and goals from Kitson and Halford, meaning the Blues go into Christmas in fifteenth; just six points off of the play-off spots. Next up, Millwall at home on Boxing Day.
Off-The-Pitch: Same Old, Same Old
While matters have been progressing well on the pitch, it wouldn't be Pompey if we weren't being held back by matters off the pitch. There are still lingering doubts over Chainrai, he has made no secret of the fact he is not a sugar daddy, but investment is surely needed if we are to progress in this league. We are still fighting on legal fronts with Inter Milan and Tottenham over owed moneys from the transfers of Sulley Muntari and Asmir Begovic respectively, with FIFA now being dragged in. Rejuvinated strikers David Nugent and John Utaka are out of contract at the end of the season and for all eyes outside of the club, there is no movement on tying two of our key players.
But the biggest matter is the contract disputes surrounding Richard Hughes and Michael Brown. Both midfielders have clauses in their contracts stating if they play one more game, we are obliged to offer them contracts the club cannot afford, meaning Cotterill cannot play them. Hughesy has become more of a squad player in recent weeks, but Brown has become one of the key members of midfield and has formed a good partnership with Hayden Mullins in there. Simply, we need them freed up otherwise Cotterill will be desperately short of options in the middle, as our threadbare squad is stretched to its limit over this busy period.
What Next for the Blues?
So, what next for Pompey? Who should we be looking for in the January transfer window? Who should we look to keep and look to sell? And how are the Blues going to get on in their festive fixtures?
Well, the answers to these questions are coming up in the approaching week. Up until then, I wanted to give you highlights of Pompey beating Tottenham in the FA Cup Semi-Finals. Failing that, I wanted to show you Barcelona playing total football in beating Real Madrid five-nil with a perfect performance. But, thanks to the deteriorating state of YouTube, here is the highlights from Real Madrid's thumping 8-0 win over Levante, with some foreign commentary :). I promise better in the future.
Play Up Pompey.
NWR.
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