Neville Dalton is a journalist and a Portsmouth fan of more than 40 years

It's that awkward time, right at the end of the season, when it feels that bit early (not to mention greedy) to be looking forward to next term, but - in Pompey's case - a bit depressing to be looking back over what has just happened.

Delighted and proud that I am that Pompey have just had a sixth successive season in the Premier League, I would say this has for me been the worst of the six, when even the joy of competing in Europe for the first time was tempered by thoughts of what might have been.

OK, we've been closer to relegation before; we've finished in a lower position. But then the expectation was less.

In our Premiership debut season we flirted with going straight back down after an excellent start. But we rounded the season off with a flourish and ended up a more than respectable 13^th (which is still higher than we managed this term).

Then came two narrower squeaks, when Harry couldn't make up his mind whether he wanted to be at Fratton.

But of course the second of those culminated in the comeback to end all comebacks - and ask most Pompey fans which of the two seasons that more or less ended with games at Wigan was the best and you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone plumping for this one.

What makes 2008-9 all the more difficult to take, though, was the thought of what we've thrown away. A year ago we were celebrating winning the FA Cup and finishing eighth in the league - both achievements unsurpassed in most of our lifetimes.

We were a player or two away from being a genuine top-six club.

But for me the season expired before it had even begun with Peter Storrie's bombshell announcement that we could no longer afford the signings we had been promised because of the economic downturn.

I'm not pointing fingers. If that's the true financial position, tough decisions have to be made.

But it not only cost Pompey the chance of breaking through as one of the country's really top teams - it almost cost us our place in the Premier League.

But it was not all doom and gloom - and though my awards below are based on games that I saw - every competitive home fixture, plus all but one in Europe, together with a smattering of away league games - I hope they will prove food for thought in a season of unmitigated frustration for most of us Pompey fans.

Pompey

Player of the season: Glen Johnson

Probably the easiest decision for decades. No other candidate comes close. Even an indifferent end to the season as tiredness and injuries caught up with him could not diminish his bright sparkle in a season of so much grey.

Attacking even more impressively than last year; scoring a couple of great goals to boot, and improving his defending immeasurably, Glen Johnson is surely now the undisputed best right-back in England.

I think Peter Crouch deserves a mention for squeezing so many goals out of such a difficult season. Well over 30 in two seasons at Pompey, he has surely now earned the right to be respected by those dogmatic, blinkered Fratton Park critics. Who knows how many he - and Pompey - would have scored if he had had a partner all season?

And the worst: Hayden Mullins

The poor bloke didn't have much of a chance, plucked from obscurity by Tony Adams to fill the void left on the bench by the departures of the likes of Pedro Mendes, Lassana Diarra and Sulley Muntari.

The real problem, though, was that he didn't sit on the bench - he was part of the fulcrum of Pompey's stutter to safety, chosen ahead of the likes of Angelos Basinas to ply his unspectacular trade alongside the likes of Richard Hughes and Sean Davis.

Best Pompey performance: Pompey 2-2 AC Milan

Absolutely no doubt about it. Not just that they came so close to what would have been one of the most famous victories in the club's 111-year history, but that they did it in style.

Reading the revisionist assessment of Tony Adams' tenure, it's hard to believe that the magnificent 2-2 draw came under his leadership. It did - and if, as many argue, the game encapsulated his management era, it is worth noting that Tony Adams' Pompey - shorn of several key first-team players - took the game to Milan for much of the game, and played some exhilarating football.

Undoubtedly marking Glen Little's, Richard Hughes' and Nadir Belhadj's best games for the club, it was a game that almost makes season 2008-9 worth remembering.

Worst: Pompey 0-3 Newcastle United

Take your pick. Plenty to choose from. December 2008 represented the nadir of a very ordinary season for Pompey.

It was the time when Tony Adams' gallant efforts to get Pompey to play their way out of trouble gave way to miserable attempts to - well, I'm not sure what they were trying to do. And unfortunately, it appears in retrospect, nor did the players.

I was tempted to choose the Boxing Day match against West Ham as the worst, but in reality this trumped it, if only because the Geordies were almost as dire as Pompey!

Arnold Mvuemba gave away a goal and virtually ended his Pompey career; we thought the Davis-Hughes axis was bad (Hayden Mullins wasn't on the scene then), and Niko Kranjcar was still some way off his best form after returning from injury.

Best opposition performance: Pompey 1-2 Wigan Athletic

In truth it could have been either of Chelsea's early-season thrashings of Pompey, firstly in the Premier League; then in the Carling Cup.

Or Arsenal's clinical demolition of the Blues, in a team shorn of the likes of Almunia, Fabregas and Adebayor.

But I've plumped for Steve Bruce's Wigan's admirable performance at Fratton Park in November, not least because it was a terrific example of how a team with limited means can take the game to the opposition, playing its share of attacking - and certainly entertaining, high-quality football.

It was a curious game - not the only time Pompey peppered the woodwork without reward in an extraordinarily topsy-turvy season. But Wigan were in my view worth their win, not least because of their brave approach - something we might have dwelt on during our late-season bid for survival.

It was to prove one of many Wigan performances that drew praise from football watchers in the first half of the season. Sir Alex Ferguson, no less, proclaimed them the best team to have visited Old Trafford after his side struggled to beat them in January.

Their later capitulation serves only to illustrate how vital big squads are to Premier League success these days.

Worst opposition performance: Pompey 1-0 Bolton Wanderers

In all honesty, it was probably Bristol City's - their contribution to one of the most dire FA Cup ties I can recall watching was even worse than Pompey's, and a disappointment, given their reputation at the time under Gary Johnson.

But when all is said and done, they were technically a league below Pompey, which makes the displays of Newcastle, Manchester City and Sunderland at Fratton Park all the more inexcusable.

However, while the Geordies were probably the worst, they did still win 3-0, so I've gone for Bolton's amazing surrender at Fratton in April - when Kanu's untidy bundling of the ball over the line signalled likely Premier League survival for the Blues in a game where Bolton's traditional pressing, in-your-face style was rarely to be seen.

Bolton were rightly beaten by a Pompey side that certainly appeared to want victory more on the day.

Best individual performance: Nadir Belhadj v AC Milan

In a season of outstanding Glen Johnson displays, it is ironic that I have plumped for someone other than he.

Belhadj has excited and disappointed in equal measure during his time at Fratton Park. But forget for one moment his defensive lapses (and he did put in some excellent defensive displays, too), and the night that captivated me most was that magical one last November, when so many players performed beyond our expectation, but when Belhadj really proved his talent at the very highest level.

His pace and trickery frightened Milan's celebrated - but ageing - midfield and defence; his never-say-die attitude rescued the team on several occasions. But his positive attitude helped ensure Pompey fans were on a high all night.

And the euphoria that accompanied Pompey's European odyssey that night should serve as a valuable reminder of how a positive, attacking approach (and it was not a suicidal one that night by any means) can captivate the fans and bring the very best out of them in a way that a one-paced, backward-looking midfield cannot.

Worst individual performance:

There were probably plenty of candidates in games I didn't see, but there were quite enough in the games I did watch, thank you.

It was hardly an auspicious start when Sol Campbell and Jermain Defoe under-performed so glaringly in the opening-day defeat at Chelsea.

When the Londoners brought a weakened team to Fratton for a Carling Cup encounter a few weeks later, David James and Arnold Mvuemba's displays took the biscuit.

Armand Traore was the worst of a bad bunch against Swansea City in another cup match, and Noe Pamarot had a torrid time at Wolfsburg.

But that night probably also saw the worst ever Pompey performance by David James. The man who has done so much to drive the club to success suffered a mid-season crisis of confidence, and the Wolfsburg game was undoubtedly his nadir.

It featured another of those long-range shots that Jamo got into the habit of just watching roll into his net, and, of course, his penalty-area antics that handed the Germans victory and prematurely ended Pompey's European run.

Other

Team of the season: Liverpool

Man U deservedly won the Premier League, but they were pushed all the way by Liverpool, whose spring form was outstanding and exhilarating - four goals against Man U, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, et al…

Honourable mentions for Fulham, Wigan, Stoke City, Peterborough and Exeter City.

Manager of the season: Roy Hodgson

Sir Alex continues to get the best out of his highly-paid superstars, and given the Chelsea slump under Luiz Felipe Scolari, that shouldn't be underestimated.

Rafa Benitez produced the perfect riposte to critics of his "too defensive" team (you ought to come to Fratton, mate!) with a magnificent goal blitz in March and April.

Runner-up - Tony Pulis has done an amazing job with the much-unfancied Stoke side that powered its way through the Championship the previous season. He bought astutely without over-stretching; played to his team's obvious strengths, which although by and large were set-pieces, still managed to play more a better brand of attacking football than the Bolton of Sam Allardyce and particularly the horrible Hornets of Adie Boothroyd.

Steve Bruce deserves an honourable mention for turning Wigan into a very decent Premier League side, whose excellent season was probably slightly undermined by a lack of squad depth in the last couple of months.

Guus Hiddink revived Chelsea, and Darren Ferguson and Paul Tisdale also deserve plaudits for their achievements in clinching double promotions for Peterborough and Exeter respectively.

But Hodgson continued his excellent work that kept Fulham in the top division at the end of last season, producing an aesthetically pleasing, effectively impressive footballing side on a comparitive shoestring, and thoroughly earning a shot at Europe next season.

Squeezes out Pulis by dint of the quality of football played.

Player of the season: Steven Gerrard

Funnily enough, his Footballer of the Year award was widely criticised, but I actually agree with the Football Writers' Association. I thought his drive, example and goals were the inspiration behind Liverpool's excellent tilt at the title, even though some of their best results were achieved in his absence.

Cristiano Ronaldo, while never hitting the incredible heights of last season, remains a key cog in Manchester United's relentless trophy machine, and Wayne Rooney displayed a wider range of skills from an ever-deeper, ever-wider position. His non-stop endeavour, admirable defensive work and sublime skills - combined with an ever-maturing footballing brain - sets an example to anyone looking to play in a similar role.

Tim Cahill remains vital to Everton's hopes of success; Frank Lampard to Chelsea's; and Fernando Torres to Liverpool's.

I was also impressed by Manchester City's Stephen Ireland, who would have been my choice for young player of the season.

Disservice to Football

Plenty to choose from off the field, but you can't pick on Joey Barton all the time. Well, you could, but sticking to on-field activities, you'd be hard-pushed to find a worse advert for football than Pompey under Paul Hart.

Yes, ultimately effective, though even his fans must admit it would not have been enough if some of the teams below us had performed even mediocrely well.

But think about it: Pompey played more than a third of the season in a largely unattractive, negative manner, displaying few of the positive traits of the beautiful game. I'm not expecting the free-flowing extravaganzas of Harry Redknapp's heyday, but if football was like that every week, most of us would soon stop going.

And a third of a season is not to far from becoming "every week". OK, it wasn't a whole season, but more than a third of it - you have to ask what is the point of playing the game if you're not going to try to get something positive from it.

Dishonourable mentions: Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack and co after being knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona.

For all my criticism of Paul Hart's tactics and inflexibility, Pompey remain in the top division for a seventh consecutive season.

He certainly got the players working hard for him, and for that he deserves credit. Unfortunately, given the widely accepted acknowledgement that some were not inclined to do the same for Tony Adams, it reflects pretty poorly on one or two highly paid Fratton professionals.

But more on that in my next column.