Pompey fans said goodbye to what has been another hectic, rollercoaster season in the Premier League today as Fratton Park staged the final game of the season against Liverpool. Pompey lost 3-1 in the end however nobody seemed to care.
The atmosphere was electric at the beginning of the occasion, with just about every "staying up" chant you could think of bellowing out of the stands as well as constant repeats of "The Great Escape" theme. As the game started chants turned to songs suggesting who Pompey should buy next season (D'Alessandro, Gerrard..) and who they should not buy (Quashie, Heskey..). The atmosphere did get disappointingly subdued at parts during the game, but then could you blame our fans for feeling drained after the trauma we have been put through for the past 37 games? It must have felt nice to relax for once knowing that hardly anything mattered today in terms of a result. These feelings were solidified after Robbie Fowlers' goal was greeted by chants of "We Don't Care! We Don't Care! We Don't Care!"
In the first half we were probably the better team by a slight distance, playing some neat stuff with D'Alessandro weaving his magic once again, O'Neil working hard in front of a solid defence well marshalled by Linvoy. Chances were hard to come by though we almost gifted Steven Gerrard an opener after a light header back to goal from Priske meant Deano had to come out and make a suicide save to block the oncoming strike. Toddy should have tapped us in a first goal after great work from Benjani opened up space for him to cross a ball into the box that would have been in the back of the net had our Bulgarian striker been more aware of what was going on.
The second half Liverpool upped their game and if you give Robbie Fowler a sniff then there's no doubt he will take his chance (no pun intended there!). From then on it all seemed a bit casual, almost like a holiday camp at times although there were a flurry of goals towards the end starting off with Peter "Scummer" Crouch scoring and then loanee Ognjen Koroman of all people scoring the last Pompey goal of the season. Djibril Cisse then looked blatantly offside to wrap up the three points for Liverpool who probably deserved them in the end. Not that anyone in the home ends cared too much.
The final whistle then blew on the game and on the season. Pompey players then gave their lap of honour soon after in which the fans saluted their soldiers who have fought so bravely over the course of these last few months to dig us out of the trenches and on to the grounds of Premiership survival after what has been a long, gurelling war filled with many ups and downs.
Of course, there are still some questions to be answered in the close season too. Will Harry stay? Was today the last time we saw Routledge, Koroman and D'Alessandro in a Pompey shirt? What about other players, will they move on? Will Sacha actually be found out to be completely dodgy and as a consequence Pompey will actually be relegated this season? Who will be joining the Pompey team next season? Will Dean Keily bring out his own brand of fashionwear?
I guess only time will tell. However now is a time for reflection on what has been one hell of a ride. And the best news?
Come August 19th 2006, we get to do it all over again!
The atmosphere was electric at the beginning of the occasion, with just about every "staying up" chant you could think of bellowing out of the stands as well as constant repeats of "The Great Escape" theme. As the game started chants turned to songs suggesting who Pompey should buy next season (D'Alessandro, Gerrard..) and who they should not buy (Quashie, Heskey..). The atmosphere did get disappointingly subdued at parts during the game, but then could you blame our fans for feeling drained after the trauma we have been put through for the past 37 games? It must have felt nice to relax for once knowing that hardly anything mattered today in terms of a result. These feelings were solidified after Robbie Fowlers' goal was greeted by chants of "We Don't Care! We Don't Care! We Don't Care!"
In the first half we were probably the better team by a slight distance, playing some neat stuff with D'Alessandro weaving his magic once again, O'Neil working hard in front of a solid defence well marshalled by Linvoy. Chances were hard to come by though we almost gifted Steven Gerrard an opener after a light header back to goal from Priske meant Deano had to come out and make a suicide save to block the oncoming strike. Toddy should have tapped us in a first goal after great work from Benjani opened up space for him to cross a ball into the box that would have been in the back of the net had our Bulgarian striker been more aware of what was going on.
The second half Liverpool upped their game and if you give Robbie Fowler a sniff then there's no doubt he will take his chance (no pun intended there!). From then on it all seemed a bit casual, almost like a holiday camp at times although there were a flurry of goals towards the end starting off with Peter "Scummer" Crouch scoring and then loanee Ognjen Koroman of all people scoring the last Pompey goal of the season. Djibril Cisse then looked blatantly offside to wrap up the three points for Liverpool who probably deserved them in the end. Not that anyone in the home ends cared too much.
The final whistle then blew on the game and on the season. Pompey players then gave their lap of honour soon after in which the fans saluted their soldiers who have fought so bravely over the course of these last few months to dig us out of the trenches and on to the grounds of Premiership survival after what has been a long, gurelling war filled with many ups and downs.
Of course, there are still some questions to be answered in the close season too. Will Harry stay? Was today the last time we saw Routledge, Koroman and D'Alessandro in a Pompey shirt? What about other players, will they move on? Will Sacha actually be found out to be completely dodgy and as a consequence Pompey will actually be relegated this season? Who will be joining the Pompey team next season? Will Dean Keily bring out his own brand of fashionwear?
I guess only time will tell. However now is a time for reflection on what has been one hell of a ride. And the best news?
Come August 19th 2006, we get to do it all over again!