retired_embartl

January 2002

As the New Year broke, the players all woke up with a combination of sea sickness and a hangover after celebrating in traditional sailor fashion. Whatsmore as well as Kanouté, the passenger numbers had swelled considerably. Along the way they had picked up and persuaded the following to sign on the dotted line in the summer:

All except one of the buggers were French: Laurent d’Jaffo a slightly fat but very much able forward back up; Seyni N’Diaye – Tranmere’s 28 year old hot striker. His Senaglese passport was of course thrown overboard, as he was welcomed into the French family permanently; David Zitelli a 33 year old forward who was wasting away at Hibs; Jean-Louis Valois – Luton’s pacy winger and Yannick Kamaman - Tottenhams young forward looking for more familiar settings. Malky Malkay , Norwich’s defender was the only Scot picked up by the Mary Rose.

They returned just in time to battle hard to a 1-1 draw at home to table toppers Watford with Mark Burchill leveling late on, but were too distracted by the time the FA Cup 3rd round tie at Bradford came up. Fred had his eye on the future, and with both McKinlay, Donnelly, and Brady all absent injured, the side were massively lightweight in midfield – and the subsequent 3-0 defeat reflected that. Still, it was another cup they were out of, and they weren’t going to win it anyway with the current squad. Fred had faith, but it wasn’t blind faith. McCaldon got a yellow in conceding a penalty early on, and after Lee Sharpe knocked it in, Portsmouth weren’t coming back yet.

Although Fred had brushed off the cup exit as irrelevant, what he was finding it harder to ignore, especially from those bloody journalists was the downturn in general form over the past few weeks, with 3 defeats out of 6 league games, a contrast to the previous excellent streak. He consoled himself initially by bringing in Greg Shields on a bosman, as he looked forward to finally having two right backs at the club, before mixing the tactics up somewhat a bit in training.

The bitter cold coastal weather also brought with it icy training pitches, and Steve McQueen slipped and damaged his knee in midweek, requiring rest and gentle treatment for two weeks, curtailing their talisman already, though mercifully it saw Spurs seemed to withdraw interest in the forward for the time being. However, the return of the midfielders provided hope, with a testing trip up away to 3rd placed Sheffield Wednesday .

For the match, Lionel Perez was given a start in place of Ian McCaldon who was feeling off colour before the game, whilst N’Gotty was added to the midfield to give it some extra bite, and the early exchanges justified the move as he was imperious in breaking up the hosts moves along with McKinlay, as the team gradually began to gain their confidence a bit the longer the half went on and were given massive momentum boost on 44 minutes when Gary Brady, collecting a side pass from Courville smashed in a 20 yard bolt to give the side a crucial lift. 60 seconds later and they felt back to their best as another attack soon afterwards saw N’Gotty felled in the area, and Fabien Bossy dispatched the penalty firmly to make it 2-0. Furthermore, Sheffield had their goalkeeper sent off, with the replacement an inexperienced youth teamer. The second half was still a battle but for the most part Portsmouth were in control, eventually making their extra man count when sub Mark Burchill headed in. The hosts scored straight away to retain some hope but remarkably it was centre back Bossy headed in a Callum Davidson corner for his second and the teams 4th, ensuring an excellent victory all round.

retired_embartl

Right, as I must away to Perth, Australia in a few hours, I shall whack a bunch of updates now and allow em to settle for two weeks, ttfn

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February

After a long rest with no games played, the players were far too slow to start in their match away to Nottingham Forrest to Fred’s chagrin. Only the English were lazy and arrogant! Stern John punished the team with a first half strike, and the hosts should have taken more of their chances to double the lead. Perhaps the absence of McKinlay and Brady was proving quite important, but all the same, there was enough about the side to fight back, and following on from a rocket up their arse at half time, they duly sneaked a draw thanks to a well placed half volley from Uliano Courville – the Frenchman proving to be one of Fred’s most valued assets. It was the only shot on target and a harsh result on Forrest, but it always comes back to that cliché – take your chances!


Doubts over whether the point was merited were extinguished by a very accomplished victory at home to inept Stockport as the team ran out comfortable winners from start to finish without any real exertions. McLean was back in the side after his short injury break and scored twice, and with the help of both N’Gotty and McKinlay the grip over the midfield battle was impenetrable. It was coasting to a 2-0 win, until gloss was deservedly added through Uliano Courville and Mark Burchill for a splendid win.

With the season edging towards the last quarter, Fred was well aware of the importance of maintaining a good run of form at the very least to maintain their play off spot. Chasing the top two was still possible, but would require another run of form similar to their spell in October when they went 6 matches without dropping a point. With almost a fully fit squad, they went up against West Brom the following week in high spirits, and the midfield slightly re-jigged. However, a positive start was again checked by a Ruel Fox bundle in the 14th minute. A long hopeful punt upfield was not cleared at all well, and in a confused penalty area, no one player took charge and Fox took advantage. It was a horrible goal to concede, and Fred would not be mincing his words at half time over that incident. Barely ten minutes later though and it got worse as Jason Roberts in all his trickery undid the defence down the left to set up Tom Youngs to make it 2-0 and put the 6th placed hosts firmly in control. At that point there seemed little chance of a comeback as the side struggled to register a shot on target. In the second period a triple sub seemed desperate, but helped stabilize the side and gradually they fought back into the game. On 81, Alex Neil crossed and McKinlay finished to bring hope and then amazingly, in the final minute, Mark Burchill was brought down in the area and defender Fabien Bossy dispatched the spot kick to earn a slightly lucky share of the points.

It was of course a decent result, but it didn’t hide the fact that the fluency in the side was still far too patchy at the moment, but Fred hoped the home clash with struggling Birmingham City would be a good way of regaining that rythym. Indeed in the first half, the home side were utterly dominant, Uliano Courville thrice forced Nico Vaesen into fine saves, whilst Donnelly and Burchill also combined effectively on several occasions to open up the visitors defence, but frustratingly at half time the score was still 0-0. McLean was brought on to try and bring some ruthlessness into the forward play, but still the visitors were riding the luck and being the jammiest bastards on the planet, a title they only served to confirm when Martin Grainger headed them into a 1 goal lead with their first move of the match on 62. At this point even the fans knew it wasn’t going to be their day. Yes the players were creating chances, but they weren’t going in and as dominant as the side were, no-one expected an equalizer, and Birmingham somehow fluked all the points by rubbing salt into the wound with a second goal minutes from fulltime through youngster Chris Ward.

Bloody lucky English bastards. Based in the dead centre of this repugnant country and oh so self aware of there wretched surroundings.

With the confidence still on edge, and the fluency absent, the side were no very frail in defence, and Fred tried changing several players around for the home match with Bradford City , another team who really shouldn’t be much cop, but their FA Cup victory did give the visitors a mental edge. Indeed it seemed to be a similar affair early on as after sustain Portsmouth pressure, Bradford and Gareth Whalley scored on the counter attack and you could see confidence visibly drain from the players. However, this time around the response was more positive and within a few minutes justice was served when Dominic Matteo was fastest to a spilled Steve McLean shot to restore parity, and on the stroke of half time Garry Brady seemed to have set things right once more with a deserved second. As the match continued, there were other opportunities to score, yet still, to Fred’s intense frustration, Bradford had one more chance which was duly taken by Benito Carbone.

A disappointing month took an even worse turn before it finished with the sad news of Bruno N’Gotty who, whilst helping to staff the Mary Rose on a routine trip round the British Isle, fell off the lookout post and landed headfirst on a stray cannon resulting in a fractured skull. The devastating injury would keep him out of action for the rest of the season at least and probably well beyond then too, though all thoughts were just wishing him on making a full recovery with as little brain damage as possible.

retired_embartl

March 2002

The offshoot of tragic incidents like that can often be a galvanization of the fellow group members and that’s what happened down at Pompey. There was little need for any motivational talk, and it was duly demonstrated at home to Grimbsy where there was a welcome return to form for Steve McLean with a terrific hat-trick, whilst Mark Burchill continued to add his own worth notching his tenth of the season. McLean’s first was a lovely volleyed finish from a Bossy lobbed pass, the second the end result of a superb run and cross from the consistently good Courville, whilst the hat trick ball was the third volleyed goal, this time from an Alec Cleland run on the overlap. With his job done, he combined with Courville to set up the ever eager Burchill to seal a delightful win.

The competitive nature of the league though meant this kind of form would have to be maintained if they wanted to be in the play-offs come May, and a trip to Rotherham soon after would be a good chance to try and get two successive league victories secured for the first time in a little while, especially with their hosts rock bottom. The absence of Steve McLean with a slight knock was a blow, but the team were still fairly comfortably in charge of the opening proceedings – their high line working well as both Rotherham efforts were struck off rightly for offside. Before half time, Mark Burchill smacked in Courville’s beautifully curled free kick to hand Portsmouth the advantage. The second half though, despite rather mundane almost saw the hosts snatch all three points. Annoyingly Tony Crane headed them in level and whilst trying to recover from that blow they won a penalty immediately after when Cleland pushed one of their players over. It was therefore a lot easier to see the draw as a point gained when Ian McKaldon pulled off a magnificent diving save to his left.

What Fred could easily say with the current side was that at least draws, and away draws nonetheless kept the point tally ticking over, which was vital given that even a side as low as 11th like Birmingham could really believe they could make the play offs with 10 games to play. Thus the midweek clash at Gillingham more in danger at the wrong end of the table was one not to lose. Indeed after 9 minutes a Franck Sauzee goal ensured the players started the match confidently, keeping their opponents at bay, but a Steve McLean off form was wasting too many chances, and with La Loi de Sode, when one misses several chances to win a game, you inevitably suffer the consequences and a Chris Hope goal in the second half kept Portsmouths progress ticking slower than would have been preferred.

However frustrating those draws were, it was nothing to the feeling Fred had following the abortionate match at home to Burnley . The side had chances and missed, whilst the defence – and in particular Sauzee and Davidson suffered shockers as Ian Moore and Gavin bloody Peacock were instrumental in securing a good victory for the Lancastrians. Portsmouth were insipid for the most part and could only muster a last minute Fabien Bossy header by way of consolation, as the play off charge took a little hit.

The next day young Olivier Pickeau came crying into training about how much hated the English way of life and Frederic had only sympathy for the young man, and told him to go and enjoy a good two weeks back home in Caen. It was true, living in England, was quite frankly, a nightmare and he was comforted personally by the proximity to the coastline and escape to the seas.

He was one of the lucky ones to avoid a grim trip up north at Sheffield United , where in bleak weather conditions the side battled hard throughout, picking up a valuable point with defender Fabien Bossy adding another goal to his seasons impressive tally before Lee Bradbury leveled. There was bad news though after a particularly bad challenge ended up with Franck Sauzee on a stretcher and probably out of the rest of the league season at least, or touch and go for the play-offs.

Having gone four games without a win now, it was imperative to get a full 3 points on the board sooner rather than later and a few days later the hosting of Millwall provided the outlet to do so. Fred was of course concerned about the fragility in defence as with both Sauzee and N’Gotty on long term injuries, they could not afford anymore injury woes in that department. Garry Brady’s early goal therefore settled nerves and the team took it easier than normal to protect legs. The problem with that strategy though was it invited the visitors into controlling possession too easily, and on the stroke of half time Joe Dolan headed in to give the mid table side hope. With yet another 1-1 draw on the horizon it was with massive relief to Frederick that Steve McLean turned up the heat to bag his 27th of the season and help the side claim a massively important win.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Pl Watford 40 15 6 0 45 20 9 4 6 34 31 82 2nd Coventry 40 15 2 3 45 21 9 5 6 29 29 79 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd Sheff Wed 40 14 4 2 43 20 5 10 5 31 31 71 4th Man City 40 11 5 4 38 20 8 6 6 30 29 68 5th Portsmouth 40 12 3 5 44 22 7 7 6 34 26 67 6th Walsall 40 11 4 5 38 22 6 7 7 22 22 62 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7th W.B.A. 40 13 3 4 41 19 4 8 8 27 36 62 8th Preston 40 12 3 5 35 24 6 5 9 29 32 62 9th Crewe 40 12 2 6 41 31 8 0 12 27 39 62 10th Wolves 40 11 5 4 40 22 5 7 8 17 22 60 11th Birmingham 40 10 6 4 31 19 6 3 11 27 42 57 12th Nottm Forest 40 10 6 5 43 23 5 3 11 24 37 54 13th Millwall 40 7 4 8 28 22 7 6 8 29 35 52 14th Bradford 40 9 4 7 29 22 4 8 8 26 34 51 15th Barnsley 40 10 3 7 28 21 4 6 10 22 33 51 16th Wimbledon 40 10 4 6 31 27 4 4 12 29 44 50 17th Sheff Utd 40 9 6 4 30 21 4 3 14 17 41 48 18th Grimsby 40 7 6 8 34 37 6 2 11 23 37 47 19th Crystal Palace 40 7 5 8 35 29 5 5 10 17 30 46 20th Gillingham 40 6 7 7 28 26 5 5 10 18 33 45 21st Burnley 40 6 6 7 29 28 4 4 13 22 41 40 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------22nd Rotherham 40 6 10 4 31 30 1 5 14 13 45 36 23rd Norwich 40 7 6 7 25 25 2 2 16 18 45 35 24th Stockport 40 5 9 6 26 30 2 4 14 16 44 34 </pre>

retired_embartl

April

With only 6 games to go, team unity was essential to ensure they made it to the end of season lottery, which is why it was Mark Burchill’s handing in of a transfer request to join a bigger club infuriated Fred so much. The player had been a valuable player so far, and was a contributor to the goals and assists columns but he was not an outstanding cut above the rest. Perhaps loan signing Steve McLean had encouraged his fellow Scot to head back to Rangers with him in the summer. It was rejected out of hand the young forward was exiled to a week in solitary confinement on board HMS Victory.

Of more positive news, Frederick was proud to discover that Ian McCaldon had been named in the First Division Team of the Year.

On the pitch, there was a tricky encounter at Crystal Palace to overcome first off but despite creating numerous opportunities with Steve McLean raining shots on goal, they couldn’t break through against stubborn hosts. In the second, Jovan Kirovski and Stuart Barlow both demonstrated the clinical finishing absent from the visitors to take the three points.

Letting points like that slip away was not something Fred could tolerate as he maximized the training regime for one last push to clinch the final spot. Barnsley were the team next up on the hit list. This time the effort and chances were converted into goals as the team were inspired by an excellent game from Garry Brady. He converted a Courville cross initially, and then was instrumental in starting the play that led to the clincher from Simon Donnelly.

That was the first of a two game Easter double, and the subsequent trip to Manchester City was able to provide a chance to be mathematically sure of a top 6 spot. It started well early with a Mark Burchill strike as the want-a-way forward was displaying a positive approach to his situation as the penny dropped in his tiny skull that if the side won promotion he’d be at that level he wanted. Unfortunately though a Justin Walker goal on half time prevented the momentum from carrying through into the second half, and in the end the side had to settle for a solid point at their promotion chasing rivals.

It was all hands on deck metaphorically and literally in the next week’s training session as Fred decided to take the players out on a three day break on the sea in an attempt to ease the pressure on the players, but sadly it seemed to work counteractively as at home to Wolves where despite winning many of the individual battles, failed to make their chances count, and a visiting side desperate to try and claw their way into late contention for a play off spot took all 3 points with a Colin Cameron strike in the 73rd minute, the Scot star showing the rest of Fred’s side how it was done and suddenly the question loomed – would Portsmouth flunk it right at the death?

retired_bbcarr

Come on lads, clinch that promotion spot.

retired_embartl

let's find out in this concluding part of the most uninteresting cliffhanger ever

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With two games remaining, nerves were still on edge as they had to clinch a play off spot. Watford and Sheffield Wednesday had already secured automatic promotion, whilst Coventry and Manchester City had already assured themselves of extra games in May. It was handy therefore to be traveling in their next match to bottom of the table canary droppings Norwich City . That said, even with their visitors ineptitude taken into account it took a while to get going, but once Mark Burchill knocked in his 12th league goal it was a comfortable rout to securing the final spot, with Garry Brady and Fabien Bossy helping ensure a 3-1 victory.

May Review

There was an air of satisfaction for Fred for having overcome his early doubters to take the side this far, but he wasn’t about to end the run now, and after a damp squib of a draw against Preston including a belated goal for Olivier Pickeau, the idiot from Caen finally making himself useful to the side as they came from 2 down to nick a draw.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************** ********************************************** English First Division - Sunday 5th May 2002********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2001/2 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Sheff Wed 46 17 4 2 52 21 8 10 5 39 33 89 2nd P Watford 46 16 6 1 48 23 9 6 8 39 42 87 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd Pl Coventry 46 15 5 3 48 24 10 5 8 31 32 85 4th Pl Man City 46 12 7 4 44 24 9 8 6 39 35 78 5th Pl Portsmouth 46 13 4 6 48 25 8 8 7 38 30 75 6th Pl Wolves 46 12 7 4 46 25 7 7 9 21 26 71 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7th Crewe 46 14 2 7 45 35 9 0 14 31 45 71 8th W.B.A. 46 15 4 4 44 20 4 9 10 30 43 70 9th Birmingham 46 13 6 4 40 21 7 4 12 31 47 70 10th Preston 46 13 4 6 41 31 6 7 10 31 36 68 11th Walsall 46 12 5 6 44 26 6 8 9 23 30 67 12th Nottm Forest 46 12 6 5 48 24 6 3 14 27 44 63 13th Millwall 46 10 5 8 39 27 7 6 10 31 39 62 14th Bradford 46 10 6 7 33 25 5 10 8 31 37 61 15th Barnsley 46 12 4 7 34 24 5 6 12 24 39 61 16th Wimbledon 46 12 4 7 39 31 5 5 13 32 47 60 17th Crystal Palace 46 10 5 8 41 31 5 6 12 20 35 56 18th Gillingham 46 8 7 8 33 29 5 6 12 20 38 52 19th Sheff Utd 46 10 7 6 35 26 4 3 16 19 48 52 20th Burnley 46 8 7 8 35 34 5 4 14 25 44 50 21st Grimsby 46 7 7 9 36 40 6 3 14 29 46 49 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------22nd R Stockport 46 7 10 6 30 31 2 5 16 18 51 42 23rd R Rotherham 46 7 10 6 35 37 1 6 16 16 52 40 24th R Norwich 46 8 6 9 30 31 2 3 18 20 49 39</pre>

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Now, having been paired up with Manchester City for the semi finals, Fred took heart from the past history in the league. A thumping 5-1 homer, and a well earned away draw recently certainly gave Portsmouth the psychological edge going into the tie, whilst Franck Sauzee returned from injury. It would also see the final matches with Steve McLean involved with his loan spell ending before the final was scheduled anyway, that’s should they get their. In the other match Wolves took a slender advantage against Coventry in their match, a complete fluke given how they had never occupied a top 6 spot until the final match of the season. For Fred, he through together his strongest side with McCaldon back in goal, and Sauzee straight into the firing line despite his long term injury. It was a game with chances for either side, and the majority which came by was spectacularly wasted, with Burchill a chief culprit for the Pompey team. However, having survived some attempted pressure the breakthrough came in the 45th minute when Uliano Courville scored on Carlo Nash.

There’d be more to tell on the second half, if there was anything of actual note but with the hosts bizarrely content to lose the home leg ‘just’ 1-0, it petered out into a slender lead for Portsmouth – with the rather unfortunate and notable injury to Sauzee again. After 2 months out, he returned for 73 minutes and was then sidelined out for another couple of months.

In the 2nd leg, it kicked off early on though as the Mancunians went for broke, with Danny Tiatto setting up Justin Walker after 5 minutes, to cancel out the first leg, but Steve McLean made his worth known in his emotional farewell game, heading in an Alex Neil cross. Neil Maddison slid across to Justin Walker to restore the advantage and it was clearly game on from that point. Ten minutes later Simon Donnelly then crossed for Steve McLean to make it 2-2 and hand back the aggregate lead to the home side. The on loan Rangers forward was enjoying a fantastic finale game for the club, and it was appropriate that his second goal proved to be the tie winner. Despite the open ended nature of the game there was only one more goal to come and that was a 25 yard thunderbolt from Garry Brady to clinch the tie.

Having overcome Man City, the final would pitch Portsmouth against Wolves the surprise team having eliminated Coventry after extra time in the second leg. The history here had seen a magnificent 4-0 away win back in December, but more recently they had lost 1-0 at home to that Cameron strike, a loss which had ironically helped Wolves steal the final play off spot right at the death. Furthermore, consistent midfielder Alex Neil also ended up returning to Barnsley in untimely fashion shortly before the sides’ met in the final.

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Play Off Final

It was the day which could turn a decent season into a spectacular season. With plenty of bosman’s already secured for the summer, Fred knew he’d have a better squad regardless of the outcome for next summer. Of course the current squad were now right at the old bare bones. There was no Sauzee and N’Gotty, two very solid centre halves, and no McLean or Neil – star forward and valuable midfielder respectively. With only 4 subs, it also meant Olivier Pickeau the ‘alternative’ striker was leading the line in the most important game in Portsmouth’s recent history.

Balls.

Of course the side that started still had the quality of Brady, Courville, Donnelly and McKinlay and even Burchill in the side so they weren’t without hope. Indeed after a quarter of an hour, the Wolves lost their talismanic midfielder Colin Cameron to injury and with all due respect, Michael Branch was hardly a fitting replacement. The early stages were then spent capitalizing on that lift, and halfway through the half, Mark Burchill continued his resurgent form to pull back for Simon Donnelly to stroke in a sweet right foot shot and fill the southerners with confidence. It was one foot in the door, and for the rest of the first half, it was clear the perennial underachievers were low in spirits and tense in their passing as they knew they could ill afford another error.

Come the second half, and it was a tighter match as Wolves knew they had to attack more frequently in pursuit of an equalizer. It was to that end then, that Olivier Pickeau not long after scoring his first goal in a meaningless game, then went and produced his first actual meaningful contribution to the side as he half volleyed a stunning pass into the path of the roving Garry Brady, and the midfielder thundered in a magnificent strike on 62 to send one half of the Millennium Stadium into raptures. It was a key goal, allowing for subs to be made and refresh the side for a last half hour stretch in which the Molineux ‘Giants’ came at the side for a long time.

On 76, Gary O’Neil sent Cedric Roussell clear and the Belgian finished with aplomb to restore hope and keep the contest alive, as Fred, began to feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The minutes continued to tick on and Wolves kept trying to press forward but an excellent display in the centre from Brady and McKinlay nullified their short passing game, and soon they were resorting to desperate hoofs up the pitch, but they too were repelled by Matteo and Bossy to good effect, and with Fred still assuming there was another ten minutes to go, the final whistle blew, and it took a good minute or to to sink in – they’d won, and were promoted. Top flight football was returning to Fratton Park, and his assault on the top flight could begin in earnest.

His parents were going to be very bloody proud.

Wolves 1 Portsmouth 2 Roussell 76; Donnelly 22, Brady 54

retired_swmchick2006

Way-hey! Nice one. :thup: