Source: FOOTYMAD
Pompey End Season With Last Gasp Defeat
Everton 1 Portsmouth 0 Yesterday's game at Goodison Park summed our season up perfectly after losing a game we didn't deserve to lose. After having a perfectly good goal disallowed, the opposition scored in stoppage time to condemn Pompey to yet another defeat.David James was rested ahead of the FA Cup Final along with Michael Brown and Aruna Dindane, but those players excluded, Avram Grant played his strongest available side.The game itself was your typical end-of-season-with-nothing-to-play-for affair as Everton had most of the possession but didn't really do much with the ball. Pompey attempted to hit the Toffees on the break when given the chance but couldn't muster a meaningful effort on target.All the action happened in the second half as Anthony Vanden Borre thought he had tapped Pompey into the lead following a mixture of poor Pompey shooting and even worse Everton defending. However, the offside flag was raised despite Distin being on the goal line.Jamie O'Hara could have scored with a decent curling effort whilst Saha had his effort cleared off the line and Hibbert came close with a volley for the home side. It looked like the game would end as a stalemate but anyone who was watched Pompey a lot this season should have known better... The only difference between this last gasp winner from the rest was simply that Bilyaletdinov's goal was an unstoppable shot into the top corner from 25 yards rather than a tap in as a result of terrible defending.That was virtually the last kick of the season as Peter Walton called time on Pompey's seven year tenure in the Premier League. The Pompey fans, who had been in defiant spirits all game, applauded the players off one last time before the final.Pompey have finished with a "true" points total of 28 which means that they are officially the worst team in the league. It's hard to argue against that over a 38 game season having lost the first seven matches but I still don't think that at this current point in time that we are worse than Hull or Burnley.So, after seven years of being in the top flight, it's time to leave. We've had many good times during our spell in the Premier League and I'll especially remember thrashing Southampton and the great escape of '06 as some of the best memories. We've also had plenty of memorable victories against the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool, and we also hold the record with Reading for the highest scoring Premier League game.I'll miss days like that, but I won't miss the over-extortionate prices you have to pay in this league, I won't miss the constant media love-in for the "big four", I won't miss turning up to places like Stamford Bridge knowing that you're certainly going to get beaten and I won't miss the mercenaries that only came to this club for the huge amounts of money.If we can keep hold of Avram Grant then I'll be looking forward to the "real football" in the Championship next season. Scunthorpe away should be a great day out after all!But for now, we all have an FA Cup Final to focus on and Avram Grant has to plot perhaps the biggest upset in the history of English football's showpiece fixture.Pompey Player RatingsJamie Ashdown: 6 - Made comfortable saves but nobody would have saved that goal.Steve Finnan: 6 - Solid performance.Aaron Mokoena: 6 - Off at half-time with a minor injury.Ricardo Rocha: 7 - Made plenty of crucial blocks and tackles.Hayden Mullins: 6 - Did well at left back.Marc Wilson: 7 - Looked composed.Papa Bouba Diop: 7 - Best performance for quite some time.Anthony Vanden Borre: 6 - Good goal chalked off.Kevin-Prince Boateng: 6 - Changed position often.John Utaka: 6 - Pace caused problems but often ran himself into a dead end.Frederic Piquionne: 6 - Led the line well but needs to sort out his finishing for the final.SubstitutesLiam O'BrienTal Ben-Haim (Mokoena 67): 6 - Didn't make any mistakes.Angelos Basinas (Piquionne 78): N/A - Given a short run out.Jamie O'Hara (Wilson 46): 6 - Can't understand why he was brought on carrying an injury. He could now miss the final with two stress fractures on his lower spine.Matt RitchieTommy Smith
