Seven on the bounce, doesn’t get much better than that does it? Last night at a miserable Fratton park Pompey took us back to the halcyon days of Ian St. John, flares would of been flapping and the shirt collars likewise. The crowds have sunk to sub 10,000 now, only the hardy are remaining, but even the most dedicated are struggling to keep up the encouragement of a clearly lacklustre outfit.
One bonus of the evening was at least a couple of goals for the home side, even this seemed unlikely in an abject first half that saw us miss yet another penalty and fall behind, the one goal deficit at half time not a reflection of the play.
I was sat in the family section, with eldest son and my 11 year old who is not the greatest football fan but enjoys the live experience, even he knows that Pompey at the moment are a soulless bunch.
That first half saw Orient miss a plethora of chances, most glaring was the header that flew wide off of the head of Mooney, just after the evergreen Lisbie had slotted home.
To be frank, Pompey were awful, you can forgive the goal drought and mistakes, but lack of effort is unforgivable, something the animated Andy Awford no doubt pointed out at half time.
Pompey were sent out five minutes early for the second half, no doubt with some choice words still ringing in their ears, for all that was said though, they fell further behind after only six minutes of the new period, this time Odubajo was the beneficiary of some slack play, shrugging off Howard like many have done this season and sliding home between the legs if the hapless Andersen.
Scott Allan in possibly his last game gave the crowd something to get interested in, he won the ball in deep Orient territory and bore down on goal, being pushed wide he neither slotted home or quite found the on rushing McLeod, but at least there was life in a Pompey shirt.
Shortly after Pompey had a breakthrough, Benson was dragged down by Clarke and we had another 12 yarder, McLeod again grabbed the ball to met with a collective groan from the Fratton end, this time though he made no mistake, smashing high into the net, the drought was over, although the win famine was still evident.
Pompey being Pompey though saw fit to make life as tough as possible, this time the returning Rocha was adjudged to have fouled Lisbie, the lack of real complaints pointed to the decision being correct, Lisbie spotted up and made no mistake.
Allan again was the man who had the crowd praying again, this time his purposeful run saw him finish smartly to reduce the deficit to one again, a barnstorming finish was on the cards.
Sadly the goal was not forth coming, Ertl saw a volley parried over and Benson missed a superb chance with his head, with his aerial ability he really should of scored.
Pompey cruised to a seventh straight defeat in the end, we know the constant change in personnel does not help the cause, we know that confidence is obviously rock bottom, but after nearly four years of watching our team slide, an upturn is needed, the depths to which our team can plummet are reaching Marianas trench proportions!
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