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Pompey made it back-to-back
home wins after confidently seeing off Bristol City at a blustery Fratton
Park. They twice punished their opponents after catching them in possession either side of the interval, with Colby Bishop and Josh Murphy gratefully capitalising. And leading marksman Callum Lang then added another from close range to wrap up a deserved 3-0 victory. Pompey were unchanged from the side that picked up a point in Wales against Swansea the previous weekend. That meant Marlon Pack featured against the side where he previously spent six years, while former Fratton loanee Cam Pring started for the visitors. The hosts got straight on the front foot and after Lang was brought down 25 yards out, Matt Ritchie’s free-kick was tipped over the bar by Max O’Leary. And when the corner was then sent into the mixer, Regan Poole could not quite force the ball over the line. Ritchie also nodded over from a teasing Murphy delivery, as the Blues continued to dominate the contest. So it came as no surprise when they broke the deadlock on 20 minutes after Freddie Potts’ pressing hurried Jason Knight. He tried to pass the ball back to Rob Dickie, only for Murphy to seize possession and find BISHOP in the box. His first attempt was parried away by O’Leary, but the ball flew straight back to the striker, who made no mistake at the second attempt. But if the opening quarter had been all about the Blues, then the second saw the Robins applying plenty of pressure. One corner led to an almighty scramble in the box, with both Luke McNally and Zak Vyner having attempts blocked. Despite dominating possession, however, they were only able to test Nicolas Schmid once, as the keeper got down to deal with an angled Anis Mehmeti drive. A lot of that was down to the defending of Regan Poole, who made three fine challenges to halt dangerous Robins attacks. Half Time: Pompey 1 Bristol City 0 Pompey again made a lightning start when the action resumed and should have gone further ahead after Lang caught Dickie in possession. He raced through on goal and tried to slot the ball home, but O’Leary got just enough on it to divert the shot wide. Both sides were probing as the half progressed, with the hosts looking the more likely side to add to the scoring. They had a couple of half-chances to get themselves further ahead before the goal did finally arrive on 62 minutes. Knight was again caught in possession – this time by Lang – and Bishop slipped a neat pass through for MURPHY to coolly slot home. Pompey opted to freshen things up soon after that, with Andre Dozzell and Ritchie replaced by Owen Moxon and Paddy Lane. But there was no danger of them looking to sit on their lead – and it was extended further on 71 minutes. Murphy sent a superb low cross across the face of goal and LANG arrived at the back post in timely fashion to tuck it away. There was a return for the fit-again Zak Swanson moments later, as Bishop left the pitch to a rousing reception. The only sour note was when Lang earned a suspension for collecting his fifth booking of the season after kicking the ball away – with Dozzell having already been given a similar punishment for an earlier foul. Now Pompey just needed to maintain their clean sheet and Schmid used his legs to deny Sinclair Armstrong. And they saw out seven minutes of stoppage-time with relative ease to climb off the foot of the Championship standings, with a late Owen Moxon effort well saved by O'Leary. |
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