Second string matches have a habit of being dull affairs, but tonight there was action from the word go as the two big south coast rivals sized up. Pompey clearly boasted the stronger squad with the likes of Cissé, LuaLua, Taylor and Mezague. Vincent Pericard also looked to continue his return to fitness, although it was to be a mixed game for the young Frenchman.
It was the visitors who got off to a flying start. In only the second minute, Dexter Blackstock seized on disorganisation in the Pompey area and was victim of a foul by not one, but two defenders. Despite the noisy protests of the young and irritating crowd, it was clearly a penalty. Leon Best dutifully sent Guatelli the wrong way from the spot.
The lead was not to last long. Less than a minute later even more confusion - this time in the Southampton box - lead to the ball dropping to Pericard 10 yards out. He buried the ball in the top right corner beyond the despairing dive of Blayney and it was back to even stevens, only three minutes in.
Unfortunately for Vincent, his evening was soon to come to a premature end. After a 50/50 clash he ended up flat out on the turf and despite the best efforts of the physio, there was no choice but to be substituted. As if that wasn't bad enough, he was so badly injured that he couldn't even walk and had to be stretched off the pitch. Yowzers!
The second half was equally full of action. Midway through and Leon Best broke the offside trap and rounded Guatelli. The Italian had other ideas and took out the striker's legs just as he was through on the open goal, and the referee decided to dig out the red card. Perhaps a booking would've done; it was only a reserve game after all and it did seem like there was a defender running back to cover the goal, but we can't have it all. The sending off gave Wapenaar a chance to get some action, although he had little to deal with over the remainder of the match.
Yet the man disadvantage seemed to spur Pompey on. First after good work down the left wing, the ball came to substitute James Keene. He made no mistake and smashed inside the post from close range. Keene himself completed the scoring with the clock running down, as he lobbed a defender superbly before volleying into the back of the ol'onion bag.
Some people will read far too much into the result - "We beat the scum blah blah blah" - but more important is the fitness of players such as Cissé and Mezague. Taylor and LuaLua didn't really live up to their billing, if truth be told, and just seemed to be going through the motions. Nothing they did really shouted out "PICK ME HARRY!" It was good to see Pericard get a goal, and we wait to see just how bad the injury is. Pray for the best!
