However, Fergie and his cronies don't like coming down here do they?
07/04/07: Premiership Matchday #32: Pompey 2 Manchester United 1
Pompey were hit with the news that Sol Campbell was injured for this game and so Dejan came into the middle and filled in well. Everyone in a blue shirt gave 100% to make sure that the future Champions were unsettled and outplayed.
Edwin Van Der Sar could only parry a Benjani stinger into Matt Taylor who followed up to put Pompey ahead. The team then did well to limit United to tame efforts although Linvoy produced one of the greatest tackles in the box you'll ever see to deny Wayne Rooney what looked a certain equaliser.
David James was kept busy in the second half by making a string of superb saves and Linvoy made another superb challenge on Rooney in the box as he squinnied to Mark Clattenburg, begging for a penalty. Sean Davis had what looked like a certain goal saved by the United 'keeper as both teams kept at each other.
Niko Kranjcar came on and added more creativity to the play but we were not prepared for what happened next. Kranjcar's ball was cut out by Rio Ferdinand who directed it to Van Der Sar who was completely caught out by the backpass and the ball slowly trickled into the back of the net to score the funniest Fratton own goal since Tony Popvic's backheel!
The Fratton Faithful began the "Easeh" chant but the celebrations were put on hold after John O'Shea bundled in a goal in stoppage time to rob James of his cleansheet record once again, having fumbled to allow O'Shea to pounce. The Pompey 'keeper redeemed himself by producing a great save to deny Alan Smith an equaliser at the death.
The final whistle blew and the fans celebrated what was probably Pompey's best victory over United in the Premiership. The other two were good, but United were undisputedly the best team in England this time round and we had beaten them, again, for the third time in four seasons.
Amazing
So how do you follow your best performance of the season? With your worst of course!
09/04/07: Premiership Matchday #33: Watford 4 Pompey 2
It all started so well as Matty Taylor hit a beautiful right foot curler past Ben Foster and it looked like we were going to stroll to victory. That all changed when Djimi Traore foolishly brought down Tamas Priskin in the box and Hameur Bouazza levelled from the spot. We were stunned just before half time as Gavin Mahon unleashed an unstoppable shot past James right before the break.
It got even worse after the break as some awful defending across the line allowed Tamas Priskin to score his first ever Premiership goal and then Bouazza scored a second to add further embarrassment to the scoreline. Arnold Mvuemba grabbed his first Pompey goal afterwards but it was far too late by then as Pompey undid all the hard work they had previously gave 110% for.
Heroes To Zeroes
A reminder went out for the joyful citizens of Portsmouth to watch "When Harry met Barry". Nobody seemed to care...
Newcastle were up next at Fratton Park with an away record almost as bad as our own. This was the perfect opportunity to put the Watford memories firmly behind us.
14/04/07: Premiership Matchday #34: Pompey 2 Newcastle United 1
Despite the close scoreline, this was a game that Pompey dominated for the majority as Benjani turned and fired us ahead early on as we wasted numerous other opportunities in the first half. Matt Taylor didn't waste his chance though as he smashed a long range scorcher across Steve Harper's goal to deservedly double our lead.
Newcastle were gifted a route back into the game after an innocuous challenge on James Milner by Stefanovic in the box made Chris Foy point to the spot. Emre converted the resulting spot kick, meaning Jamo would have to wait another week for his clean sheet. Damien Duff also looked to have dived after going down with nobody near him, it turns out he was actually genuinely injured as the home crowd ironically cheered him off.
Taylor Made
Manchester United and Chelsea progressed to the FA Cup Final which meant that a 7th place finish was now good enough for a UEFA Cup place, meaning we still had a realistic shot at Europe for the first time in our history. History would then be made at Villa Park...
22/04/07: Premiership Matchday #35: Aston Villa 0 Pompey 0
Harry Redknapp was aware of our awful record on this ground and decided to play it cautiously. Pompey offered nothing up front in this snoozefest and anything Villa conjured up was dealt with by David James. The final whistle blew and Jamo finally had his Premiership record of 142 Clean Sheets, a well deserved achievement for an outstanding performer.
Record Breaker
The following week would see a couple of announcements that would shake the foundations of Portsmouth Football Club.
The long wait for an announcement on the new stadium was finally over as the club announced stunning new plans for a new 36,000 seater ground to be situated in Portsmouth Harbour and is aimed to be finished by 2011. Joy turned to sadness however as former Pompey manager Alan Ball passed away at the age of 61. Bally did great things for this club and it's arguable that we wouldn't be where we are now without his contribution to the club and he would surely be missed by all.
Alan Ball would be remembered during our final game of the month against Champions League Sem-Finalists Liverpool.
28/04/07: Premiership Matchday #36: Pompey 2 Liverpool 1
Liverpool played a weakened side to prepare for the 2nd leg of their Semi-Final with Chelsea and ended up paying the price. David James punted the ball upfield and Jerzy Dudek was caught in no mans land as Benjani beat him to ball, headed it over the Liverpool goalie and into an empty net.
Pompey's lead was doubled as a superb ball from Lauren met Niko Kranjcar who ran past the Liverpool defence and slotted home a second as Fratton Park sang Alan Ball's name for much of the game. Liverpool got one back through Sami Hyppia's header in the second half but this was always going to be our day.
In The Nik Of Time
So, after an eventful month we had taken three big scalps at Fratton Park, broken a Premiership record and announced groundbreaking plans for a new stadium. On the flip side we had somehow lost to the worst team in the league and mourned the loss of a footballing great. The UEFA Cup dream was still possible going into the final month of the season.
Premiership Table After Matchday 36
5th: Bolton - 55pts
6th: Everton - 54pts
7th: Portsmouth - 53pts
8th: Tottenham - 53pts
9th: Reading - 51pts
10th: Blackburn - 47pts