Portsmouth 1 v 0 Wigan Athletic
Saturday 9th September 2006
Wigan Athletic suffered their second consecutive Away Premiership defeat of the season at Fratton Park. Once again, Latics deserved more from a game than they actually got, but like the Newcastle game previously there were no complaints from manager Paul Jewell.
The Portsmouth faithful welcomed back Pedro Medes who was making his first appearance since his now infamous incident with Ben Thatcher, whilst Latics' line up included Henri Canara, who was thought to have been unavailable for up to six weeks prior to the game kicking off.
It was Latics who started the game brightly and as early as the fourth minute Camara was unlucky not to open the scoring with a speculative effort that sailed over the bar, whilst Luis Valencia forced a good save from former England goalkeeper David James minutes later. The Fratton Park crowd was unusually subdued as the black shirted Latics team were playing some neat flowing football but they were unable to create too many scoring opportunities for Camara and Emile Heskey who toiled away up front.
Portsmouth decided to start attacking the Wigan team a bit more towards the end of the first half and when Kanu threaded the ball to Benjani with just minutes remaining, Fitz Hall dispossessed the African striker just before he would surely have put Pompey ahead.
The second half was just four minutes old when Benjani did indeed put Portsmouth 1-0 up, scoring his first ever goal at Fratton Park. Ironically, he scored his first ever away goals for the club against Latics at the JJB Stadium the previous season! Gary Teale, who was playing because of injury to his Scotland team mate Lee McCulloch, sent a beautiful ball into the Portsmouth goal area but neither Camara nor Heskey got near the ball which was cleared by Mendes, who was now coming into the game a bit more after a somewhat apprehensive start.
In the 68th minute Harry Redknapp replaced the injured Dejan Stefanoxic with Noe Parmarot just prior to Camara and Sol Campbell almost coming to blows in the Pompey penalty area, however the incident quickly calmed down and the was no need for the referee to intervene.
Despite all their possession Latics were simply not getting many clear cut chances and this prompted Jewell to sacrifice Gary Teale in the 78th minute for his new £2.000.000 signing from Bristol City, striker David Cotterill, to make his Latics debut in an effort to get among the gaols. But it proved too little too late and a raft of substitutions then took place for both sides as Latics tried desperately for an equaliser whilst Redknapp was determined to hang on to what he'd got.
One of Pompey's substitutes, former Latic David Thompson found himself free in the Latics goalmouth in the 87th minute but Lua Lua tried a speculative shot instead of passing the ball to him. Then in a crazy last few minutes Heskey, Denny Landzaat and Paul Scharner all missed golden opportunities to wrap up a point for the visitors.
So Portsmouth went to the top of the Premiership while Latics slipped two places to thirteenth in the table. However, things are looking good in the Wigan camp and here's hoping Camara and Heskey can find their shooting boots next week as the team travel to take on Everton, who earlier in the day had beaten Liverpool 3-0
PORTSMOUTH, David James, Dejan Stefanovic, (Noe Pamarot 66), Sol Campbell, Linvoy Primus, Glen Johnson, Matthew Taylor, Sean Davis, Gary O'Neill, Miguel Pedro Mendes, (David Thompson 86), Nwankwo Kanu, (Lomana Tresor Lua Lua 76), Benjani Mwaruwari. Subs not used, Dean Kiely, Ognjen Koroan.
Goalscorer, Benjani Mwaruwari 49 mins
WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, Arjan De Zeeuw, Fitz Hall, Leighton Baines, Luis Antonio Valencia, Denny Landzaat Paul Scharner, Gary Teale, (David Cotterill 78), Emile Heskey, Henri Camara, (Andreas Johansson 89). Subs not used, Mike Pollitt, Matt Jackson, Josip Skoko
Booked, Fitz Hall 76 mins
Referee, P Walton
Attendance, 19,508
Wigan Athletic suffered their second consecutive Away Premiership defeat of the season at Fratton Park. Once again, Latics deserved more from a game than they actually got, but like the Newcastle game previously there were no complaints from manager Paul Jewell.
The Portsmouth faithful welcomed back Pedro Medes who was making his first appearance since his now infamous incident with Ben Thatcher, whilst Latics' line up included Henri Canara, who was thought to have been unavailable for up to six weeks prior to the game kicking off.
It was Latics who started the game brightly and as early as the fourth minute Camara was unlucky not to open the scoring with a speculative effort that sailed over the bar, whilst Luis Valencia forced a good save from former England goalkeeper David James minutes later. The Fratton Park crowd was unusually subdued as the black shirted Latics team were playing some neat flowing football but they were unable to create too many scoring opportunities for Camara and Emile Heskey who toiled away up front.
Portsmouth decided to start attacking the Wigan team a bit more towards the end of the first half and when Kanu threaded the ball to Benjani with just minutes remaining, Fitz Hall dispossessed the African striker just before he would surely have put Pompey ahead.
The second half was just four minutes old when Benjani did indeed put Portsmouth 1-0 up, scoring his first ever goal at Fratton Park. Ironically, he scored his first ever away goals for the club against Latics at the JJB Stadium the previous season! Gary Teale, who was playing because of injury to his Scotland team mate Lee McCulloch, sent a beautiful ball into the Portsmouth goal area but neither Camara nor Heskey got near the ball which was cleared by Mendes, who was now coming into the game a bit more after a somewhat apprehensive start.
In the 68th minute Harry Redknapp replaced the injured Dejan Stefanoxic with Noe Parmarot just prior to Camara and Sol Campbell almost coming to blows in the Pompey penalty area, however the incident quickly calmed down and the was no need for the referee to intervene.
Despite all their possession Latics were simply not getting many clear cut chances and this prompted Jewell to sacrifice Gary Teale in the 78th minute for his new £2.000.000 signing from Bristol City, striker David Cotterill, to make his Latics debut in an effort to get among the gaols. But it proved too little too late and a raft of substitutions then took place for both sides as Latics tried desperately for an equaliser whilst Redknapp was determined to hang on to what he'd got.
One of Pompey's substitutes, former Latic David Thompson found himself free in the Latics goalmouth in the 87th minute but Lua Lua tried a speculative shot instead of passing the ball to him. Then in a crazy last few minutes Heskey, Denny Landzaat and Paul Scharner all missed golden opportunities to wrap up a point for the visitors.
So Portsmouth went to the top of the Premiership while Latics slipped two places to thirteenth in the table. However, things are looking good in the Wigan camp and here's hoping Camara and Heskey can find their shooting boots next week as the team travel to take on Everton, who earlier in the day had beaten Liverpool 3-0
PORTSMOUTH, David James, Dejan Stefanovic, (Noe Pamarot 66), Sol Campbell, Linvoy Primus, Glen Johnson, Matthew Taylor, Sean Davis, Gary O'Neill, Miguel Pedro Mendes, (David Thompson 86), Nwankwo Kanu, (Lomana Tresor Lua Lua 76), Benjani Mwaruwari. Subs not used, Dean Kiely, Ognjen Koroan.
Goalscorer, Benjani Mwaruwari 49 mins
WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, Arjan De Zeeuw, Fitz Hall, Leighton Baines, Luis Antonio Valencia, Denny Landzaat Paul Scharner, Gary Teale, (David Cotterill 78), Emile Heskey, Henri Camara, (Andreas Johansson 89). Subs not used, Mike Pollitt, Matt Jackson, Josip Skoko
Booked, Fitz Hall 76 mins
Referee, P Walton
Attendance, 19,508
Labels: Portsmouth vrs Wigan
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