As for the game itself, I missed the first ten minutes due to the incompetence of South West Trains. Scheduled replacement rail services for Bedhampton? Where? And I'd also love to know which idiot decided to once again do engineering work when Pompey are at home... seriously I can't believe how foolish people are at times.
Speaking of foolish people Lua Lua was ruled out today after doing himself an injury. And there's me thinking he had passed a fitness test.. thanks for misinforming me Sky Sports News! It's a good thing we had won today otherwise you might have seen someone in blue going on a rampage around Pompey, and I probably would have been in a bad mood too.
Oh yeah... errmm... the game? Well we certainly weren't at our best without Lua Lua and the previous game seeming to take its toll on us. But then Boro had changed their squad almost completely so we would always have a chance in this match, it was just a matter of taking it and thank the stars Gary O'Neil did. We were definately the better side although didn't create too many chances, what did make me smile was the songs praising Benjani who played quite well once again despite not scoring but he did set up the goal with a nice pass. It's good to know that the crowd are giving Redknapp stick for subbing Benjani instead of keeping him on the pitch. But that would be all the abuse Redknapp got as more and more fans are chanting his name, and with that creating a fantastic atmosphere in the process.
Back to the game and individually the players stepped up to the challenge of grinding out this important win. I'd say Andres D'Alessandro was probably our man of the match, though Davis was until he was strangely subbed off at half time. Matty Taylor and Dejan also gave very commendable performances in defence and Linvoy kept Yakubu in his pocket practically the whole afternoon.
It wasn't until the last 20 minutes when the nerves started to kick in as we kept staying back allowing Middlesbrough to come forward, and it also doesn't help when the referee appeared to give the visitors free kicks in dangerous areas for virtually nothing but they were dealt with either because of solid defending on our part or poor finishing on behalf of Boro. Before that 20 minute period however, there only seemed to be one team who wanted the win and the final whistle was greeted by an emphatic roar by the Fratton Faithful. This victory now moves us four points clear of West Brom and three clear of Birmingham at least until tommorow. It was quite humourous to listen to the Fratton End chant "Come on Villa!" after the match had ended. I'm sure to be watching the Birmingham derby with massive interest tommorow.
So... are you ready to go through this all over again on Monday?