Pompey got a much needed win for Appleton at the third attempt, luckily the opposition was Coventry who I felt were very poor.
The stats I reckon will point out that Coventry had a lot of the ball, most of that though was in their own half as the happily passed amongst the back line, rarely threatening to test out Pompey’s defence.
Pompey went with the same 11 as last week, one pleasant surprise was the sight of Luke Varney warming up before the match for a spot on the bench.
Dave Kitson was first to threaten with a smash at goal, Murphy the Coventry ‘keeper doing well to parry it away, Coventry settled straight into their game plan, keep the ball and take no risks, this ultimately led to their downfall, a loose ball was being shepherded back to the Murphy by a combination of Cranie and Wood, Joel Ward chased in as the ‘keeper tried to usher it into his area, the ball was nicked away and then so were Ward’s legs, the ref consulted with his lino and the spotkick was awarded.
My money was on Halford to absolutely smash the ball home, he however sent Murphy the wrong way instead to give Pompey a deserved lead.
It should of been two minutes later, Kitson released Huseklepp down the left wing, his return found Mullins who shot against Kitson, Kitson himself took aim and his effort was deflected narrowly wide for a corner.
Pompey pushed on but could find no way of doubling their advantage as the half drew to a close.
Coventry obviously got the rocket at half-time as they came out a lot more ambitious second half, Henderson called into early action to keep out Jutkiewicz’s headed effort, he could though do little about the equaliser shortly after, Wood got inside Halford and squared to same man with the awkward name, he slid home and Coventry were square.
Pompey were stunned by the equaliser, Coventry had been quite frankly awful up to this point, parity was short lived however, Ward who had been full of endeavour down the right was fouled once more, Thorne played it short and it was Ward himself who struck the ball home into the bottom corner.
Tails were up now, Mullins almost got a trademark blockbuster, his trike though took a clight deflection to sail over the bar.
Huseklepp had two great chance to score, first off he looked ready to pull the trigger when Martin Cranie made a great sliding tackle to deny him, then he was played in but a heavy first touch saw him only poke wide.
Henderson was to ultimately prove to be a hero once more, first he denied McSheffery with a block as he was through, then he flew through the air to tip Baker’s shot over the bar.
Norris had time to fluff one wide when he should of scored and it was all over, Appleton had his first win and Pompey moved a little further up the table and dumped Coventry to the bottom, all after Doncaster defied the odds from the bottom by beating top of the table Voldermort.
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