Pompey produced a spirited second half comeback against Bournemouth at Fratton Park tonight after trailing 3-0 at half-time thanks to a couple of individual errors.
Tokelo Rantie opened the scoring after just 3 minutes as his tame shot somehow squirmed under the legs of Paul Jones and into the back of the net. Bret Pitman added a second during the middle of the half as he rose above his marker to head in a cross by former Pompey youngster Matt Ritchie.
The third Bournemouth goal was just as much of a gift as the first as Danny Hollands dallied on the edge of his own box and was robbed by Harry Arter who had the easy task of beating Jones one-on-one from close range. Pompey did muster a few attacks during the half but goalkeeper Benji Buchel only had to make the one save from Miles Storey whose shot was tipped over the crossbar.
Andy Awford made nine changes to the team in the second half and if anything it looked stronger than the one that began the game. This certainly proved to be the case as the defence were more organised and the attack created more chances, even if the visitors had taken their foot off the gas a little.
It took a while for Portsmouth to pull a goal back but what a goal it was! James Dunne smashed an unstoppable volley on 74 minutes which crashed the woodwork and beat Buchel who had absolutely no chance of saving it. It would be surprising to see a better goal than that scored by a Portsmouth player during the course of the upcoming season.
Eunan O'Kane tripped Jack Maloney in the box late on for the referee to award Pompey a penalty which was slammed into the bottom corner by Jed Wallace. There was to be no equaliser but at least the second half performance redeemed the first half showing.
Pre-season matches are always difficult to analyse and this one is no different. Two of the three goals Pompey conceded tonight were basic and hopefully Jones and Hollands have got those errors out of their system now rather than when it matters. Storey was the only real bright spark in the first half as Bournemouth undoubtedly took control as you would expect from a top-half Championship side.
It was good to see that Pompey tried to play the ball out of defence rather than lump it upfield to nobody. Unfortunately that needs a bit of work as often the ball would reach a midfielder who then lumped it into an empty space. Still, when it worked there was usually a chance created, especially in the second half when the players looked more like a team. Food for thought for the manager, no doubt.
Overall it wasn't a result to be concerned about. The final friendly against Charlton on Saturday will be interesting for two reasons. The side that Awford selects is likely to be close to his starting eleven for the season opener at Exeter and it'll be interesting to see if Tal Ben-Haim makes an appearance and if so, what sort of reception he will get.