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Sunday Chimes #158 – Curtis enjoys day at the Seaside

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Blackpool 1 Pompey 2

Ronan Curtis showed why Kenny Jackett was determined to get his signature earlier in the summer with a brace and a lot more as Pompey continued their winning start to the season.

Jackett made three changes with Nathan Thompson injured in came Ben Close, Gareth Evans and Oli Hawkins with Brandon Haunstrup and more surprisingly Brett Pitman dropped to the bench.

The crowd was tiny with only 2,500 Tangerine fans eventually entering the ground as yet another protest against the Oyston family ownership took place.

The home side hit the post early but then Pompey took control and Curtis making the most of some indecision at the back to put the visitors in front. From there on Pompey played some good stuff and had more chances to increase their lead against the managerless Seasiders.

On the hour it was Curtis who out-muscled his marker to put Pompey two up and cruising. The home came back into the game with the substitution Armand Gnaduillet came on and went up front with Mark Cullen. Gnaduillet has always done well against Pompey including when he was at Chesterfield. Pompey began defending too deep and Cullen pulled one back (or was it Matt Clarke) and then had another disallowed with the final kick of the match.

Pompey (4-1-4-1): MacGillivray; Walkes, Whatmough, Clarke, Brown; Naylor; Lowe (Wheeler 79), Evans (c), Close (Rose 66), Curtis; Hawkins
Goals: Curtis 9, 59
Booked: Evans, Naylor
Subs not used: McGee, Burgess, Haunstrup, Dennis, Pitman

Referee: Ross Joyce

Attendance: 4,154 (1,638 Pompey fans)

Luton fans have been crowing over the support they had at Fratton Park last Saturday in 2,392. That trip was around 99 miles well yesterday Pompey fans travelled around 280 miles and multiplying the miles by the fans Hatters travelled 237,000 and Pompey 459,000 … that lays down the marker!

What’s with the squiggle?

I have been asked about the squiggle that appears on EFL kits before the player’s name.
Well, this iconic new design will for the first time in English football, incorporate a charity’s logo into the player name on the back of every EFL shirt across all 72 Clubs in the Sky Bet Championship, Sky Bet League One and Sky Bet League Two.

The squiggle part of Mind’s logo will be joined into the first letter of the player name – with the player’s name replacing the Mind wording – in a unique design to celebrate the new partnership which sees Mind become the EFL’s new Official Charity Partner from the start of the next season.

Mind were chosen to become the EFL’s Official Charity Partner from the start of the 2018/19 season on an initial two-year basis.

So wear your squiggle with pride!

The search is simple

With the transfer window closing it was widely accepted that Pompey were seeking an attacking midfielder and pacy striker to bolster their squad. That only came partly to fruition, but Kenny Jackett was adamant the club are continuing to strive behind the scenes to complete signings. He said: ‘It’s very competitive and what you‘ll find is all the clubs around you – and some not – will be phoning about the same players.

‘There’s no real secrets. With the amount of video information you can get on almost any league in the world now, you can sit there and go through different scouting databases to get leads from.

‘That is before you speak on the phone to the agents, who throw suggestions your way on players that might be about where your club is in that particular division.

All that and still some fans complain that Pompey should have thrown more and more money at such and such a player. Some people will never be satisfied and always aim criticism at both manager and owners – hard life is football.

Getting to the game

…is going to get harder if you travel from Tipner, Stamshaw or North End. First Bus have announced that the 17 service which fans will have relied on to take them to Fratton Park will no longer run through the North Western part of Portsea Island. Very strange decision as there has been a route across the city since the war and it has been well used. Bring back the football specials I say!

and finally..

Orlando Pirates ‘keeper Wayne Sandilands stakes his claim for a spot in our and finally… Hall of Fame this week with a truly atrocious piece of control. His faffery put the Pirates 1-0 down, but luckily they managed to scrape a draw…

PUP

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'Sunday Chimes Editor'