So one a piece it finished then... I'm a bit disappointed personally because we had the chance to finish West Ham off in the first half after having the better it but in true Pompey style we only kept up the pace for 45 minutes and I knew as soon as Harewood's shot hit the post in the second half that the equaliser wasn't too far away.
To take the positives the first half performance couldn't have been much better and everyone put in their shift. Gary O'Neil showed why he has been our best player this season with some nice skills and crisp passing not to mention his well taken goal. Lua Lua gave their defence a torrid time in the first forty-five and Silva had some nice touches too. So why did it all fall flat in the second half?
I don't think it was the fact that we had burnt ourselves out. After all the team had 15 minutes to recover from the first half action. Complacency? I doubt it.. a Premier League side shouldn't suffer from that unless your name is Arsenal. I just think West Ham upped their game and proved that they are worthy of their top 10 status. I heard a few people moan after the game that we're going down because we can't beat the lesser sides at home but lets not forget that West Ham are, despite only just being promoted a top 10 side and we can't just expect them to turn up and take 3 points from them. Pardew must have given them a team talk to remember as they definately upped the ante after the break and gave us more than a few problems and could have even won it in the dying seconds if Dailly's header had been on target.
On to my next point; the referee. Alan Wiley has never been our favourite referee since the Pires dive two seasons ago and he didn't exactly endear himself to the crowd this time around either.I will apologize if I'm wrong but he seemed to miss Carroll's handle outside his box in the first half and also a blatant handball by Ferdinand in the box in the second half. I also didn't think that Robert's second bookable offence was actually bookable unless I've borrowed Arsene Wenger's eyesight for today. One last quick moan about Redknapp's tactics today too. If you're going to change it then don't leave it until the last five minutes! Toddy should have been introduced earlier for Robert as the frenchman was becoming ineffective very quickly. Consequently he was sent off and Toddy never even came on despite scoring the winner last week.
To sum up my thoughts I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't take the 3 points when we had the oppurtunity to. Especially considering West Brom, Birmingham and Everton all lost but am I panicking after a draw with a top 8/top 10 side? No. We still have crucial home games against Fulham and Everton to come and if we take maximum points from those games our survival chances will recieve a major boost.
To take the positives the first half performance couldn't have been much better and everyone put in their shift. Gary O'Neil showed why he has been our best player this season with some nice skills and crisp passing not to mention his well taken goal. Lua Lua gave their defence a torrid time in the first forty-five and Silva had some nice touches too. So why did it all fall flat in the second half?
I don't think it was the fact that we had burnt ourselves out. After all the team had 15 minutes to recover from the first half action. Complacency? I doubt it.. a Premier League side shouldn't suffer from that unless your name is Arsenal. I just think West Ham upped their game and proved that they are worthy of their top 10 status. I heard a few people moan after the game that we're going down because we can't beat the lesser sides at home but lets not forget that West Ham are, despite only just being promoted a top 10 side and we can't just expect them to turn up and take 3 points from them. Pardew must have given them a team talk to remember as they definately upped the ante after the break and gave us more than a few problems and could have even won it in the dying seconds if Dailly's header had been on target.
On to my next point; the referee. Alan Wiley has never been our favourite referee since the Pires dive two seasons ago and he didn't exactly endear himself to the crowd this time around either.I will apologize if I'm wrong but he seemed to miss Carroll's handle outside his box in the first half and also a blatant handball by Ferdinand in the box in the second half. I also didn't think that Robert's second bookable offence was actually bookable unless I've borrowed Arsene Wenger's eyesight for today. One last quick moan about Redknapp's tactics today too. If you're going to change it then don't leave it until the last five minutes! Toddy should have been introduced earlier for Robert as the frenchman was becoming ineffective very quickly. Consequently he was sent off and Toddy never even came on despite scoring the winner last week.
To sum up my thoughts I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't take the 3 points when we had the oppurtunity to. Especially considering West Brom, Birmingham and Everton all lost but am I panicking after a draw with a top 8/top 10 side? No. We still have crucial home games against Fulham and Everton to come and if we take maximum points from those games our survival chances will recieve a major boost.