Fratton Park gets soul back as first steps are taken in football’s rebirth
Pompey serve up finest display of the season to see off fellow League One promotion hopefuls Peterborough as 2,000 fans make long-awaited return. NEIL ALLEN reports...
ACHORUS of ‘Pompey Til I Die’ reverberated around Fratton Park, a poignant presence on an emotional day.
Proceedings had begun with applause for Papa Bouba Diop, a player whose smile spoke the words his voice rarely mustered, such was his low-key nature.
The hulking figure, who appeared in two Blues FA Cup finals, last week tragically passed away at the age of 42, a loss deeply mourned.
In almost nine months since Fratton Park last flung open its turnstiles, many of the flock had been taken prematurely, deprived of a return to their spiritual home.
Some claimed by coronavirus, others through illnesses unconnected, yet all with Pompey deep in their heart.
They were there against Peterborough, though. Just 2,000 fans were permitted entrance, yet the club’s soul was back to roar on Kenny Jackett’s side.
Saturday signified football’s first tentative steps towards its rebirth, granting life back to a game stripped of its essence. Not merely supporters were casualties of the fortification of barricades.
How they smiled beneath the masks. Not merely through the subsequent 2-0 victory and its impressive manner either, there was nothing shallow about Saturday.
Rather an enforced sabbatical sparking the realisation of football’s importance to a community which not so long ago united to preserve its club.
Perhaps we took Fratton Park matchdays for granted. Yet the visit of Peterborough invoked childlike awe, as if embracing those centuryold surroundings for the first time.
The familiar had become unfamiliar – it was a day of rediscovery and reacquaintance, the stirring of dormant passion. And special.
There were boos thrown at Posh’s starting XI as they entered the pitch, while Nathan Thompson endured pantomime treatment, jeered with every trademark tumble and cynical challenge.
‘We’ve seen you before’ was the chant directed towards him at one stage. We’ve also heard the rendition before – but how it has been missed.
Kenny Jackett’s side has undergone something of a renaissance in recent months, discounting what appears to be a blip at Blackpool last Tuesday.
Well, there has also been a rejuvenation in the stands, influenced by absence and now being served a brand of football rarely glimpsed during the manager’s previous three seasons at the helm.
Football has rebooted. Certainly few of those present on Saturday would have departed grumbling, not even the bitter cold and sporadic torrential showers able to dampen spirits.
And they were treated to Pompey’s best display of the season.
Granted, there was a notable win at Sunderland and the Marcus Harness-inspired demolition of
Burton Albion. However, the Blues were consistently the dominant force against the Posh over the full 90 minutes.
Some of the fluent football was a joy to watch on occasions. Vibrant, imaginative and dripping with menace, only a poor final ball from wide positions prevented a deserved first-half lead.
Half-time fears that Pompey had failed to capitalise on their purple period proved unfounded. They were even better after the break and secured a thoroughly-deserved triumph to rise to fourth in League One.
It was the antithesis of their Bloomfield Road display, so infuriatingly lethargic following a spell of 36 goals from 16 fixtures. The Blues were unrecognisable in that midweek trip to Lancashire.
Against Peterborough, however, the likes of Ronan Curtis, Ryan Williams and Andy Cannon rediscovered their vitality. Coupled with John Marquis and Harness, they pressed, harried and were insatiable with their work-rate.
Most crucial of all, they offered an attacking threat which has seen the Blues establish a free-scoring nature, a welcome addition since mid-October.
And against Peterborough, arguably for the first time this season, Jackett’s men suggested they were capable of featuring among the automatic promotion candidates.
While this may be a solid playoff side, in truth it has offered little persuasive evidence that it is equipped to venture beyond third place in League One. That was until Saturday.
Under Jackett, there has been an impressive tendency to respond positively following a league defeat – and that was again evident against Darren Ferguson’s side.
In fact, the Scot’s dressing room post-match inquest spanned 45 minutes, while there’s now an element of Posh fans calling for his head.
Pompey cannot claim sole responsibility, of course, merely the tipping point following a run of one win in five league matches, which has seen the London Road club’s racing start slip.
Funny things memories. From the start of October, Ferguson won nine of 10 games in all competitions, earning him the Sky Bet Manager of the Month accolade, pipping Jackett.
Still, their plight shouldn’t cheapen Pompey’s outstanding display.
Perhaps it was fitting that Jack Whatmough, the sole local player in the starting XI, should open the scoring. In doing so, he recorded his maiden Fratton Park goal on his 115th outing.
The 24-year-old was hauled off at halftime in the previous encounter between the clubs in March,
When Posh turned in the finest perforrmance by a side against the Blues last season. whatmough was subsequently Ommited from the squad for the following fixture – the visit of fleetwood Town – which would prove to be the lst league match of a curtailed season. Now re-established, he headed home Lee Brown’s rightwing free-kick on 61 tes to set Pompey e way to a wellrecieved victory. The centre-half was also watched by five-month-old daughter Esme for the first time at Fraatton Park, a lovely moment for one of the club’s classiest Perforrmers. perhaps with inevitability these days.' Tom Naylor also got on the scoresheet to seal the victory on 75 minutes.
Cannon rolled the ball into his path and the skipper crashed a first-time right-footed shot into the top corner of the net for another addition on a growing list of collector’s items.
It represented his fifth in seven matches and how the side rejoiced with him in front of the Fratton End. Unmistakably, the presence of supporters also ramps up players’ goal celebrations. Naylor deserved to have a crowd in attendance to share that moment, likewise the team warranted the subsequent lap of appreciation in front of fans who shortly before the final whistle had delivered a touching tribute of ‘Pompey I Die’.
Fratton Park hadn’t changed. Life has.