Anyway... we've finally won a league game in 2007 but yet again a match against Man City has been overshadowed by an unsavoury incident involving Pedro Mendes.
From the beginning, we came out flying and it didn't take long for us to take the lead through man-of-the-moment Mendes who produced a carbon copy of his two thunderbolts against City to give Pompey the lead after 5 minutes. That goal settled us and we looked nothing like a side who hadn't won a league game in 2007 as we took control of the game and forced Issakson to make some decent saves as we rained the shots down on his goal following some great passages of play.
Then came the turning point in the game.
Mendes; who was the best player on the pitch at the time, is taken out by Joey Barton in what I, and many other people believe is a deliberate stamp on his Achilles. The referee doesn't send him off and from that point forward loses control of the game and City begin to come back into it as Samaras hits the side netting and Corradi has a header well saved by David James.
Come the second half and Corradi does find the back of the net with a header after Traore makes a mess of dealing with Darius Vassell who crosses for the equaliser and then I began getting worried as City looked the stronger side and with boo-boy Barton getting abuse, I thought it was inevitable that he would grab the winner.
But then Harry Redknapp; earlier sent to the stands for giving the awful referee some stick at half-time, made a couple of changes that swung the game back in our favour as Kanu and Kranjcar came on for Cole and Traore and immediately made an impact.
In the final 10 minutes we pushed on and were ultimately rewarded as Glen Johnson put Kanu through to poke in his 12th goal in a Portsmouth shirt and from then on if anyone was going to score it was going to be us, despite the tension of City's last corner in stoppage time.
All in all the performance was light years ahead of last week's debacle at Wigan. We were excellent for the first 30 minutes but losing Mendes was a pretty harsh blow, and we found it hard to fully recover until Kanu and Kranjcar came on.
In the end, I think we were just about worth our win although City fans will point to a handball incident involving Traore. I say it's Karma for the fact we were denied a blatant penalty at the City Of Manchester Stadium back in August and no amount of penalties against us could make up for the thuggery Mendes has had to endure at the hands of City players this year.
It was imperative we won yesterday with Bolton, Reading and Everton all winning. These three clubs are likely to be UEFA Cup contenders all season so we can't afford to lose ground on them. Next up is Blackburn away and they have to play three games before we meet them and we have a week off so hopefully Primus and Mendes will recover from their injuries in time for the trip to Ewood Park.
So, the slide has stopped for now and Mendes plays his part against Man City again. Now we have to build on this result to get our Euro challenge well and truly back on track.
Pompey Player Ratings
David James: 7 - Some decent saves but no clean sheet record this time.
Glen Johnson: 8 - Funny how someone who has performed terribly for us in recent weeks ends up being the man of the match. Maybe it's because we played to his strengths, meaning his forward runs and passing made a huge contribution to our attacking play.
Noe Pamarot: 6 - Did a solid job in the centre but could have done better marking Corradi for the equaliser.
Sol Campbell: 7 - Another consistent display from the Sol Man. (How cheesy does that sound!?)
Djimi Traore: 6 - Solid, but was caught out by Vassell for City's equaliser.
Gary O'Neil: 7 - A good return to the team. Tireless and energetic display but I now think he is better on the right than in the centre.
Sean Davis: 7 - Good all round display.
Pedro Mendes: 7 - Best player on the pitch before Barton's nasty "challenge".
Matthew Taylor: 6 - Wasn't as involved as he can be.
Andy Cole: 6 - Did alright.
Lomana LuaLua: 7 - Made things happen on the pitch, keep it up Lua.
Subs
Jamie Ashdown
Lauren: 7 - Came on for the injured Mendes and had a decent game.
Niko Kranjcar: 7 - Looked good when he came on and should Mendes stay injured, I would start Niko.
Rodolphe Douala
Kanu: 7 - Changed the game and scored that crucial winner. Again.