Pompey were held to a goalless draw at Fratton Park yesterday in a tedious match that lacked quality and was frustrating to watch as the hosts were guilty of their worst performance of the season so far.
For anyone fortunate enough to miss the game, the fact that there were more bookings than genuine attempts at goal should give you a clue as to how poor the match was.
The fact that Pompey's best chances came from an ambitious forty-yard lob from Michael Doyle that sailed wide and a weak overhead kick from Matt Tubbs that was pushed away by the Accrington goalkeeper should tell you all you need to know.
As for the visitors; when they weren't busy fouling the Pompey players they managed to defend most of what Paul Cook's side had to throw at them due to some extremely sloppy attacking play from the frontmen. Their best chances came from a Piero Mingoia header that sailed wide at the end of the first half and then a Sean McConville snapshot that was saved by substitute Paul Jones at the start of the second.
When the final whistle blew to put the spectators out of their misery it was greeted with boos from sections of the crowd as Pompey dared to drop two more points to one of the minnows of League Two, although some of the abuse was undoubtedly saved for referee Brendan Malone who never had control of the game and struggled to keep up with play.
For the first time this season fans are beginning to question Paul Cook as his old side came to Fratton Park and were successful in "doing a job" on Portsmouth as Pompey's possession game was nullified.
And that begs the question: "Does Paul Cook have a plan B?" - The same thing was asked of Harry Redknapp during his time at the club but plan A was usually good enough to win matches in the second tier whereas Cook has now been out-thought by Jim Bentley and John Coleman for different reasons and the attacking players didn't perform for him yesterday.
Whilst Conor Chaplin and Matt Tubbs were introduced to the fray in the second half, the pattern of play remained the same as the Accrington centre backs easily dealt with the long balls directed at the lone striker whilst the attacking midfield trio of Bennett, Evans and Roberts were closed down too quickly to do any damage which meant they either gave the ball away cheaply or tried to do too much individually and it never worked.
That meant it was a frustrating afternoon overall and Cook may now have to rethink his strategy to stop Barnet doing exactly the same thing at Fratton Park this upcoming Saturday.
Still, if you want to clutch at straws and take the positives from the match then it's a point gained from the corresponding fixture last season and the match itself was much like the Newport game last season only their physical approach saw them take all three points rather than the one that Stanley did yesterday so perhaps people are right when they suggest that Pompey would have lost that encounter last season.
The fact also remains that Portsmouth are still unbeaten in League Two and are averaging two points a game. If that is kept up for the entire season then that would see Pompey end the campaign on 92 points which would surely result in promotion.
However, failure to beat the Bees on Saturday will see more disgruntled fans question the manager and his players and we really don't want to be going down that particular road again...
Pompey Player Ratings
Brian Murphy: 6 - Little to do as he went off at half-time with a groin injury.
Ben Davies: 7 - Never looked troubled and unlucky to be booked after a tussle in the middle of the pitch.
Christian Burgess: 7 - Probably the best player on the pitch which tells its own story.
Matt Clarke: 7 - Was one of Pompey's brighter attacking influences towards the end of the game. Again, this tells you a lot about the game itself.
Enda Stevens: 6 - Defending was good but passing was woeful.
Michael Doyle: 7 - Continues to do his understated job.
Nigel Atangana: 6 - A mixed performance.
Gareth Evans: 5 - Never really in the game.
Gary Roberts: 5 - Tried to be too clever.
Kyle Bennett: 5 - Is already drawing comparisons to John Utaka as his explosive start to his career is now looking like false promise.
Jayden Stockley: 5 - Tried to hold the ball up but was never a threat.
Substitutes
Paul Jones (Murphy 46): 6 - One smart stop in a quiet half otherwise. Needs to release the ball quicker.
Adam Webster
Brandan Haunstrup
Danny Hollands
Adam McGurk
Conor Chaplin (Bennett 66): 6 - Looked dangerous when he had the ball but didn't have it often.
Matt Tubbs (Stockley 66): 6 - One half-decent effort but service was extremely lacking.