So good to see familiar faces – and top display
GAFFER FOR A DAY
Mark Harvey, aged 59 from Gosport, gives his opinion on Pompey’s 2-0 success over Peterborough United...
Enjoy being back at Fratton Park? Firstly, the plaudits should go to the club. Everything was spot on, very safe, very secure, with stewards using coming sense.
Being among the fans, you don’t necessarily know how noisy you are, but by all accounts it was appreciated by the players and management. We tried to do our bit.
I was in North Stand Lower and it was great to see a few familiar faces among the supporters and that they had made it through the pandemic.
The Papa Bouba Diop tribute was lovely, the club do those sort of things really well. It’s so sad that a player I’ve watched has born and died in my lifetime. Horrible.
And what a display to be present for.
You could say it was the best display this season that I have seen live! But, in seriousness, some of our football was magnificent.
Peterborough lined up with a diamond, which we always have trouble against, but they had to keep passing it wide because we were closing down the space around them.
For me it was the complete team performance, hence so many 8s and 9s in my ratings. We should have been three or four up at the interval.
Plenty of excellent performers to choose from there.
I know, but Andy Cannon gets my vote for man of the match.
He ran the game in the first half, although was a little quieter after the break when we played a little more on the counter-attack.
It was his first touch, his control, some of those passes he made in that central role, particularly in the first half. We nearly bought Sammie Szmodics, but Cannon looked the better player on Saturday.
What about the returning Nathan Thompson?
He must still be having nightmares about Ronan Curtis and Lee Brown.
That rugby tackle on Curtis summed up his afternoon.
I loved him to bits when he played for us, but we saw that Thompson flop a few times and some fouls, especially in the second half as he struggled with our left side.
He had to be substituted, he wouldn’t have lasted. It was amusing hearing the banter from fans towards him.