Tag Archives: Pompey

Sharp Blades to edge Pompey

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Monday night throws up one game in the Football League and it comes from League One as Sheffield United look to make it three wins on the bounce when they host Portsmouth at Bramall Lane (Sheffield United 4/5, draw 5/2, Portsmouth 7/2 Match Betting).

The Blades remain unbeaten in the third tier of English football under manager Danny Wilson and will go level with league leaders Tranmere if they can claim all three points on home soil. United (9/4 League One outright) have hardly been ripping teams apart with only one goal being the difference in their last five wins in League One.

But that won’t bother Wilson at all, as his side have shown themselves to be more than capable of getting a lead and doing enough to grind out wins, in what is a tough league to get promoted from.

Striker Nick Blackman (9/2 first goalscroer) has been key for the South Yorkshire outfit this season and with seven goals to his name so far, Wilson will be looking to the youngster the get on the scoresheet once again on Monday.

There are no fresh injury concerns for United following their 1-0 win over Walsall in their last outing and forward Dave Kitson (5/4 Anytime goalscorer) looks set to recover from a virus in time to take on his former club Portsmouth and he will be looking to add to just his three goals this term.

As for the visitors to Bramall Lane, Pomey have lost the services of loan man Wes Thomas who has returned to his parent club Bournemouth and manager Michael Appleton will have to consider a different partner for leading goalscorer Izale McLeod. Having scored nine goals this term, McLeod is going to be the main threat that the Blades will have to keep tabs on if they want to avoid an upset on home soil.

A big boost for Portsmouth is that keeper Mikkel Andersen has managed to recover from a knock on his hip to make the trip up to Yorkshire, although midfielder Darel Russell is again going to be an absentee through injury.

The South Coast outfit were on a decent run of form until their last game when they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Stevenage. However before that they were five games unbeaten in League One with four wins in that spell, which has seen the side start to climb the table.

Of course the financial restraints are going to limit what the side from Fratton Park can do this season but on current form they can certainly push up towards the playoff places.

Bramall Lane is going to be a tough place for any side to go to this season and it looks like United will be the ones celebrating the three points come the final whistle but again don’t expect the Blades to run away with it (7/1 Sheffield Utd 1-0 correct score).

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Pompey to worsen Wycombe woe

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Portsmouth will be looking to past experience to win the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy this season and the League One outfit will be confident they can avoid a potential banana skin against Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday night (Portsmouth 8/13 draw 13/5 Wycombe 7/2 – Match Betting) in their second-round tie.

Pompey, who lifted the FA Cup back in 2008, have suffered a steep decline since they beat Cardiff City in that final at Wembley and now sit 17th place in the third tier of English football.

Having made a poor start to the season, the south-coast club are unbeaten in their last three outings, including wins over Scunthorpe United and Yeovil Town.

Manager Michael Appleton will have been disappointed his side were two goals to the good against MK Dons on the weekend before being pegged back to a 2-2 draw.

Izale McLeod has been a standout performer this term for Pompey, with five goals to his name already this term.

The former England Under-21 striker will be a threat to a Wycombe side who put an end to their eight-game winless streak last weekend with a 2-1 victory over Torquay.

Wanderers still sit just above the relegation zone in 22nd place in League Two and face a tough season ahead of them, as they aim to avoid relegation to the conference.

The side are currently being led by captain and now caretaker manager Gareth Ainsworth who will be looking for his side to cause a big upset against Portsmouth.

However, at Fratton Park, Pompey should have too much for Wycombe, who will have bigger concerns of football league survival on their minds (6/1 Portsmouth 2-0 – correct score) this season.

In another cup encounter on Tuesday night Chesterfield make the relatively short 30 miles trip north to face Doncaster Rovers at the Keepmoat Stadium (Doncaster 8/11 draw 5/2 Chesterfield 3/1 – Match Betting).

Rovers find themselves just two points off the play-offs as they settle into life in League One following relegation from the Championship last term.

Manager Dean Saunders has picked up former Chelsea youngster Michael Woods this month, who will be hoping to kick-start his career with Doncaster.

The 22-year-old will have plenty of experienced players around him in the form of Robbie Blake and James Harper so he will learn a lot by playing regularly for Rovers.

Doncaster go up against a Chesterfield outfit who have proved to be a tough nut to crack this term.

With only one defeat in their last 11 outings in all competitions, caretaker managers Tommy Wright and Mark Crossley have a side that will not give up even if they go behind against Rovers.

The Spireites will undoubtedly show plenty of character at the Keepmoat on Tuesday night but Doncaster will have the experience, with the likes of Blake and Harper, to get them through the second round tie (7/1 Doncaster 2-1 correct score).

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Zigic back to punish Pompey

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Birmingham City have been one of the in-form sides in the Championship since they crashed out of the Europa League and now manager Chris Hughton will be looking for a further three points when they host Portsmouth on Tuesday (match prices – Birmingham 4/6, draw 13/5, Portsmouth 9/2).

Blues have been frantically playing catch-up after their journey in Europe came to an end but, despite a hectic schedule, the West Midlands outfit have been climbing the Championship table with great affect.

Birmingham were held to a goalless draw in a bitterly cold encounter with Southampton at St Andrew’s on Saturday despite having some great chances to win the game, especially when the visitors went down to 10-men with the sending off of Danny Fox.

Hughton will be looking for a far more clinical effort from his highly attacking side who have managed to score three or more goal against Leeds United, Sheffield United and Watford in recent weeks.

Blues were without Nikola Zigic (5/1 first goalscorer) for their stalemate with Southampton, and his return could spark goals for the home side, after he scored an impressive four goals at Elland Road in his last outing.

The Serbian striker picked up a knock in the 4-1 win over Leeds but could make a return for Birmingham and he will look to cause plenty of problems for the Portsmouth defence.

As for Pompey their financial problems off the field seem to be never ending and reports on Monday have suggested the players have not been paid their wages for January.

Portsmouth fans will be hoping the ongoing troubles behind the scenes will not affect the players on the pitch but it’s hard to see how they wouldn’t.

Fortunately the south-coast outfit have 10 points between themselves and the relegation zone but they will be determined to make sure that gap does not get any smaller in the coming weeks.

Manager Michael Appleton saw his side put in an impressive performance in their last outing, with a 3-0 away victory over Peterborough thanks to a brace from Erik Huseklepp (10/1 first goalscorer).

The Norwegian playmaker has been a key figure for his side but the fact he is the club?s joint leading goalscorer with five in the league tells its own story.

Despite struggling for goals in the striking department, the midfield with David Norris and former Stoke City star Liam Lawrence will cause problems for Blues, in what will be an interesting midfield battle.

Pompey have some important games coming up against teams around them in the league with Ipswich Town and Barnsley on the horizon.

Appleton will be determined to cause an upset on Tuesday night but they might have one eye on more winnable games in the coming weeks.

Birmingham (6/1 Championship outright) are in fine form and it’s hard to the see them not winning this one at St Andrew’s, so expect Pompey to get the Blues on another cold night in the Midlands.

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Pompey staring into the abyss

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Bet on the ChampionshipPortsmouth’s game against Hull City on Saturday will go ahead despite the South Coast side being on the brink of liquidation (Hull 13/10, draw 23/10, Portsmouth 21/10 – Match Betting).

On Friday evening, Pompey released a statement saying that they faced going out of business unless they could strike a deal with major creditor and former owner Alexandre Gaydamak. This was described by the football club as “impossible” due to an upfront cash payment that was being demanded by Gaydamak. This was described by Portsmouth as a “ransom payment” as it would secure Pompey’s exit from administration.

The news will come as a bitter blow to Portsmouth fans at a time when things were looking up for the club. Results on the pitch have improved after a poor start to the campaign whilst the club admits that “extensive efforts” had been made to try and resolve the situation behind the scenes.

Explaining the position, Portsmouth say these efforts have “now been undermined by the self-interested actions of one individual. Mr Gaydamak has provided confirmation several times that terms were agreed. However, he has continually changed his position in an attempt to exploit the goodwill of the other parties to the transaction.

“By now doing this he has shown complete disregard for the supporters, the club and the City of Portsmouth, who had granted him freedom of the city in 2008.

“His earlier comments when the club went into administration about doing everything possible to save the club’s future do not appear to reflect his current actions.”

Despite the grim news, things took another dramatic twist when Portsmouth’s administrator, Andrew Andronikou, admitted he was still hopeful that the club could exit administration and that talks over the weekend could reach a “satisfactory conclusion”.

He expressed his disappointment that Portsmouth had released a statement so quickly and stressed that “within the next 24 hours we can get the parties around the table and we can renegotiate to everyone’s satisfaction.”

He went on to admit: “We are as close to coming out of administration as going into
liquidation. It is a fine balance and I want to say as little as possible at the moment.”

If Portsmouth does cease to exist, it will have significant ramifications for British football, particularly this season’s Championship. However, there have been so many twists and turns in this saga, it is difficult to predict what will happen next.

Uncertainty reigns this evening but the game at the KC Stadium could well be the last in Pompey’s illustrious history.

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