Source: Daily_Mail
Portsmouth 3 Hull 2: Hard-up Pompey are the doom-mongers for Dowie
The talk at Fratton Park this season has too often centred on Portsmouth's inability to influence matters on the pitch because of the soap opera off it. [LNB]What Avram Grant's team appear to have decided, however, is who to take down into the Championship with them. [LNB]Having not won a Premier League game since mid-December, they handcuffed themselves to Burnley with a 2-1 win at Turf Moor three weeks ago. [LNB] In the nick of chime: Kanu (second right) starts the celebrations after scoringPortsmouth's dramatic late winner that leaves Hull City staring at relegation[LNB]On Saturday, it was Hull City around whom the shackles were thrown in 60 cruel seconds. Portsmouth have known for a while that there can be no escape, yet it was the Hull players who wore the haunted looks of condemned men at the end. [LNB]RELEGATION RUN-IN PORTSMOUTHWednesday Chelsea (H)Saturday Tottenham (A)Sat, April 3 Blackburn (H)Wed, April 14 Wigan (A)Sun, April 18 Aston Villa (H)Sat, April 24 Bolton (A)Sat, May 1 Wolves (H)Sun, May 9 Everton (A)[LNB] HULL CITYSaturday Fulham (H)Sat, April 3 Stoke City (A)Sat, April 10 Burnley (H)Sat, April 17 Birmingham (A)Wed, April 21 Aston Villa (H)Sat, April 24 Sunderland (H)Sat, May 1 Wigan (A)Sun, May 9 Liverpool (H)[LNB]Around them, the Pompey faithful celebrated in what has become a delirium of denial. [LNB]'Wem-ber-ley, Wem-ber-ley' is now their stock chant ahead of next month's FA Cup semi-final. [LNB]Anything else is a bonus. Administrator Andrew Andronikou keeps talking to investors, while the investors keep talking themselves up. [LNB]Property tycoon Rob Lloyd is the latest although, like every one of these self-publicists, he has yet to show the colour of his money. [LNB]The future for Hull is equally uncertain. Phil Brown has gone, Iain Dowie is in, but the trapdoor is beginning to close and Hull are currently underneath it looking forlornly up. [LNB]Twice they led. After Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink headed against the post in the fourth minute, Caleb Folan diverted in Craig Fagan's shot and in the second half he sprinted clear to tuck the ball beyond David James. [LNB] Enlarge Sinking feeling: Jamie O'Hara fires in Portsmouth's equaliser at 2-2 to destroy Hull's hopes of a first win under Dowie[LNB]MATCH FACTS PORTSMOUTH (4-4-1-1): James 6; Mullins 5, Rocha 4 (Basinas 85min), Hreidarsson 6, Belhadj 5; Smith 6, Mokoena 5 (Kanu 55, 5), Wilson 5, Owusu-Abeyie 5 (Webber, 80) ; O'Hara 7; Piquionne 5. Booked: James.[LNB]HULL CITY (4-4-2): Myhill 6; Mendy 6, Mouyokolo 6, McShane 6, Dawson 6(Garcia 70, 5); Fagan 6, Marney 5, Bullard 6, Kilbane 5; Folan 7, Vennegoor of Hesselink 4 (Barmby 65, 6). Booked: Myhill.[LNB]Man of the match: Jamie O'Hara.Referee: Phil Dowd. [LNB]Trouble was, they couldn't defend properly. Everybody missed the corner from which the diminutive Tommy Smith poked home the first equaliser, Jimmy Bullard gave away the free-kick curled in by Jamie O'Hara and substitute Richard Garcia had a brainstorm to allow Nadir Belhadj to set up Kanu's winner. [LNB]Smith was only playing because of Aruna Dindane's loan agreement. Grant said: 'There is a clause in his contract that if he plays one more game we have to pay £4million. At the moment Portsmouth cannot even pay £4.' [LNB]Hull star Paul McShane said: 'I was on the pitch when Thierry Henry's handbal l knocked us (the Republic of Ireland) out of the World Cup. That was a sickener, but this runs it close. It is hard to take defeats like this.'[LNB] Portsmouth frustrated as takeover group refuse to reveal key investorLate Pompey comeback gets Dowie's Hull reign off to miserable start PORTSMOUTH FC
