Pompey Beat Bognor

13 July 2013 23:05
Bognor Regis Town 2 Portsmouth 4

There were no pre-season surprises at Bognor Regis today as Pompey defeated their non-league hosts at Nyewood Lane by four goals to two.

Guy Whittingham selected a stronger team to play the first half at Nyewood Lane. Sullivan, East, Bradley, Devera, Triggs, Wallace, Ertl, Awford, Barcham, Agyemang and Connolly completed a strong looking lineup.

Having listened to this game on Express FM with the new commentary team whilst trying to avoid poisoning my guests at a barbeque today, the first half seemed to be played at a higher tempo than Tuesday's game at Westliegh Park.

David Connolly poached the opening goal by tapping in Jed Wallace's cutback after the game slowed down due to the sweltering heat. Agyemang should have doubled the lead before the break but could only shoot straight at Rocks keeper Mark Zawadski when he was free in the box.

The second half was started by a brand new Pompey team. Smith, Moutaouakil, Warren, Webster, Butler, Holmes, Padovani, Branford, Maloney, Craddock and Harris completed a younger looking Portsmouth side.

Tom Craddock hit the crossbar early on but another new signing in Romain Padovani doubled Pompey's lead with a strong driving shot from the edge of the box just after the hour.

Two minutes later Holmes extended the lead further with a cooly taken goal after being set up by ex-Oxford striker Craddock.

Pompey failed to keep a clean sheet against their part-time counterparts after some sloppy defending allowed Terry Dodd to strike the ball past Phil Smith on 75 minutes.

The response was to go straight down the other end and score as Craddock got the goal he craved after tapping in Ricky Holmes' cross from a few yards out.

The home side got a consolation in the final minute when Smith came too far off his line for a corner and was caught in no-mans land as Harvey Whyte struck the ball home.

Overall, it seemed like this was a good workout for the Portsmouth squad. Bognor were tougher opposition than Havant and deserved to score by all accounts.

The goals conceded might be sloppy but it's nothing to worry about. Mistakes are always going to be made during pre-season and it is better to rectify them now rather than when it matters.

Next up are Braintree Town on Tuesday.

Source: Fratton Faithful

Source: FOOTYMAD