Myself, along with most Pompey fans must have feared the worst after the defence was completely broken for Sunderland to tap in the easiest goal they will score all season. However if there is one thing I have come to admire about this Pompey team in recent weeks then it's their will to never give up. We could have so easily just given up the ghost, accepting our fate because we had just conceded late on but this team has plenty of fight in it now and it only took three minutes for Toddy to find a crucial equaliser setting it up for an extremely tense finish.
For anyone who wasn't at the game yesterday, take it from me, the tension was worse than what it was when we were playing Middlesbrough. Sunderland could have won it too when once again they were through on our goal with the defence chasing them and if it wasn't for a bit of bad finishing and some last gasp blocking then they probably would have won it. However having escaped that major scare Pompey continued pushing forward and won a succession of corners when finally we recieved something that had been elusive to us all season. At last we had been given a penalty kick in the league!
We should have had one earlier in the game in the first half, the whole ground seemed to see the ball hit the hand of someone in a red and white shirt standing in the box but unfortunately the officials ignored our cries. However you won't see a much more blatant, or stupid handball than the one Kevin Kyle gave away in the dying embers of the game. When the referee pointed to the spot the crowd roared as if we had just scored! Who was going to take it? Toddy who had already netted earlier? Benjani for a perfect oppurtunity to get his first Pompey goal?
Nope, step up Matty Taylor and I must commend him now for having the balls the size of King Kong to step up for what could be the most priceless moment in Pompey's Premiership history. Miss, and he would have had to take the flak for costing us a win which we desperately needed. Score and become a Pompey hero. You could cut the tension with a knife in the ground, I was chewing my fingers trying to breathe properly that's how important the kick was. Thankfully Matty drilled it the other side of Kelvin Davis who had been such an annoyance in the Sunderland goal during the game and sent Fratton Park absolutely crazy!
But what's this I see? Four minutes of added time!? "Crap!" Cue defensive subs and ten men behind the ball for the time that felt like eternity. The final whistle finally blew and you could feel the relief inside the ground and on the players' faces. The result was cruel on the Sunderland fans who had made the 400 mile journey down from the North East to see their team throw away another lead and have left the ground feeling disillusioned once again however this game was all about Pompey and our players who had worked so hard to turn it around. Benjani fought for every ball and put the Sunderland defence under lots of pressure, for someone who hasn't scored for us he still has a top notch attitude and determination to find that first goal. The defence fought hard once again but were a bit over-commited going forward at times and the midfield were sloppy on occasion but then this was never going to be a game of free flowing football.
This result was a huge one and coupled with a draw for Birmingham and add a defeat for West Brom it's a result that now puts us back in the driving seat. It's now just a matter of keeping our hands on the wheel...