Source: FOOTYMAD
Pompey In Battery Bore Draw
Charleston Battery 0 Portsmouth 0 Portsmouth's pre-season tour ended with a dull draw against Charleston Battery's first team. Reading a couple of match reports it seems that this match was an uneventful encounter with Pompey dominating possession but not testing Battery goalkeeeper Andrew Dykstra at all in the first half. The Charleston chances came from long balls over the top of our defence but the American third division outfit could not apply the final touch or beat Stephen Henderson to the ball. The second half was slightly more eventful as Hermann Hreidarsson headed Liam Lawrence's cross wide and Jamie Ashdown was lucky to get away with what you'd call a common "FIFA 11" error when he bowled the ball straight to Battery's Levi Coleman, only for him to poke the ball wide. The game ended goalless and the team flew back home to prepare for the final pre-season friendly against Real Betis. So what has been learned from this trip Stateside? On the evidence of this game, our back four does lack pace and so Steve Cotterill will need to work with the defence so it doesn't get beaten by simple high balls over the top. But failing to score against a third tier American side is surely the biggest worry for the manager. Bringing in another striker is surely the priority before the season kicks off on August 6th.
