Portsmouth V West Ham United

Fortunate?

Whilst I don't deny a 0-1 away win is a great result, we'll never catch Southampton
without capitalising on a bit of fortune. Promotion would be fantastic, as champions
would be so much better, and that's what I want.

Lets not forget, our only goal was a penalty...If we can't get a decent striker in this
transfer window, it's imperative that the medical staff pull out all the stops and get
Matty Taylor fit.

Our next two homes, on paper, look so easy and winnable ............ how hard will we
make them for ourselves?

As it stands i will take a 1-0 win every match from here to may just to get us back, however massive investment is required in the summer

Just got back from the game , Our support were brilliant as always , could hardly hear the pompey fans they were that crap Felt if we had a decent striker we could off easly won this 3 or 4 nil could not fault the effort our players put in today tho I felt faubert had a poor game !

We will need to play a little better next week against forest but that should be 3 points coming our way again

Big Sam after the game

Sam Allardyce has hailed his West Ham United side for their resilience and defensive strength following Saturday's 1-0 npower Championship victory at Portsmouth.

The Hammers, boosted by the return of Kevin Nolan, James Tomkins, Carlton Cole, Julien Faubert and match-winner Mark Noble to the starting XI following last weekend's FA Cup defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, clinched their first away win since 29 November with a confident display at Fratton Park.

Pompey were condemned to their first home defeat in eight matches by a powerful performance by Big Sam's men, who dominated the opening period before going ahead through Noble's 24th-minute penalty - earned when former Hammer Tal Ben Haim pulled down WInston Reid.

Two Robert Green saves preserved the advantage before half-time. After the break, Portsmouth midfielder David Norris was sent-off for a late challenge on Reid, allowing West Ham to play out time with relative ease.

"It was a welcome win," Big Sam told West Ham TV. "When you think it's eight wins away from home and we haven't won away since November, it shows we had pretty miraculous form up until our devastating month of December really in terms of results.

"It was a great victory and was obviously helped by the sending-off, but I thought it was thoroughly deserved. If I have to be a little disappointed, it is because we haven't made it more comfortable than it was with the chances we created after they had gone down to ten men. I have been talking about that for the last few weeks.

"Our defensive side of our game is so outstanding at the moment that teams against us, home or away, are finding it so difficult to create chances. That's a great platform to build on and Saturday was another very precious three points and we've got to kick on from there.

"We've got almost a full squad back and available which showed in the performance all-round and players can come in whenever needed now and make an impact. Looking forward from here, hopefully we can have the sort of month we had in November and get as many victories back-to-back as possible and make sure we push forward to our ultimate goal."

The manager was proud of the way his side sprang out of the blocks, silencing the usually vociferous home crowd and pushing Michael Appleton's team on to the back foot.

"Like many games we played away from home, we took control of the game from the start. Portsmouth had won seven, drawn three and only lost two at home and everybody said they would come out and go straight at us but we didn't let them do that.

"We controlled the game, should have had a penalty for a foul on Julien Faubert and had a couple of half-chances, then got the penalty on Winston Reid and put that away. We then slipped up a little bit in the last ten minutes of the first half when we let some pressure come on ourselves particularly from set plays rather than Portsmouth's open play.

"Then, of course, the game changed completely when we went down to ten men and we dominated completely and the gameplan changed. We just needed to keep the ball and wait and wait and we kept the ball well. We created several chances but failed to put them in the back of the net.

"It could have been more comfortable but it was still a well-deserved victory."

Portsmouth

The victory could have been far more convincing had Faubert and Nolan not missed a succession of second-half chances. Big Sam also believed his side should have had another spot-kick when Greg Halford brought down the Frenchman four minutes before referee Kevin Friend did point to the spot for a foul on Reid.

"We should have had two penalties. If you look at the Julien Faubert incident before we got the penalty, it was more of a penalty than the penalty we got because Halford completely takes Julien out after he played the ball. Tal Ben Haim has got his arms around Winston and pulls him to the floor - there is no doubt about it.

"In terms of the sending-off, like everything you either get them or not and unfortunately for Portsmouth their player David Norris, who is a terrific little player who I had at Bolton, was a big loss for them. I'm not sure if it was or it wasn't [a red card]."

With a second straight league victory secured, the manager is now looking to continue the perfect start to 2012 when struggling Nottingham Forest visit the Boleyn Ground next Saturday. Big Sam is also hoping to add more strength to his squad between now and the end of January.

"That's how big a task it is - you have got to win four on the trot to get back to your targets. Even though we had only fallen four points behind, it's a tough ask to get them back. We're clawing them back by virtue of the fact we have won the last two.

"The squad is bigger, stronger and better than it's been for a long time and there is of course still Guy Demel and Matt Taylor who are close to coming back as well.

"So, if we can add one along the front to that, we have got George John now and Gary O'Neil back, things are looking good squad-wise."

A Pompey fans view on the game

Pompey finished yesterday afternoon with only ten men, and ever extending injury list and their first home defeat since September - it was hardly what they deserved again a very disappointing West Ham side.

There were worrying signs for Pompey fans before kick off with Aaron Mokoena and Greg Halford on the pitch with their trainer doing a number of stretching exercises, both appeared to be carrying groin strains and neither were to finish the game. Another worrying sign for me was the announcement that Kevin Friend was the referee; he had a very game at Fratton Park in 2010 when he sent off Ricardo Rocha and I remember writing about him then. Yesterday he was probably even worse!

Friend was inconsistent in everything he did constantly missing indiscretions by the visitors including what looked a clear penalty early on for a foul on Marko Futacs by James Tompkins. The slap in the face of Dave Kitson was probably the worst of the incidents he did not see - next time Mr Friend I suggest a visit to Specsavers before you walk on the hallowed turf again.

Friend did though bow to pressure from the Hammers players and give a spot kick for an innocuous challenge by Tel Ben Haim as Julien Faubert backed into him. Stephen Henderson got his hand to Noble's penalty but could not keep it out.

After that the game was really all Pompey but they could not find a way Robert Green and the Hammers even after the sending off of David Norris for a mistimed challenge could create little. In fact the visitors looked just like any side that Sam Allardyce sends out - negative.

The only Pompey player to remember yesterday with any relish would be seventeen year old Adam Webster who replaced Greg Halford for the last fifteen minutes at right back. He seemed to settle quite well and did not look overawed in the rather noisy surroundings

Blimey. The Radio London commentary team must have been at a different game!.