In a very even first half two in-form teams have been unable to score against each other in the first 45 minutes.
Newcastle made a confident start to this game and were immediately attacking Portsmouth, who returned to Fratton Park for the first time since reaching the FA Cup Final.
On a sunny afternoon on the south coast it was certainly a carnival atmosphere and a fine day for good football. Newcastle had England Under-21 captain returning after suffering a bout of food poisoning last Saturday.
A Geremi free kick after just 5 minutes was well taken by goalkeeper James, in front of the watching England manager Fabio Capello.
The first 15 minutes was a good start by the Magpies who were passing the ball around well, but without ever being able to make a clear cut chance.
On 23 minutes Harper was quick off his line to cut off a fine through pass by Kranjcar, who was causing Newcastle some trouble on the left wing.
Then on 29 minutes Viduka was through on the right, with Martins in oceans of room in the center. But Mark’s cross come shot was between Martins and James and went through for a goal kick. Viduka should have picked out Martins, and he knew it. It was an excellent chance lost.
The Newcastle full backs were finding it difficult to come forward, because of the strength of Portsmouth wingers and Beye made his only run forward after 39 minutes. Geremi and Beye were fighting hard to contain Kranjcar, who was in good form.
Newcastle are still in this game with a chance of victory, but they will need to raise their game in the second half, and must try to get their full backs forward in support of the attack.
But in the first half there was really nothing between the two sides, who were both playing well.
The game is delicately balanced on a knife edge at the interval.
TEAMS:
Portsmouth: David James, Glen Johnson, Herman Hreidarsson, Sol Campbell (c), Sylvain Distin, Papa Bouba Diop, Sean Davis, Sulley Muntari, Niko Kranjcar, Nwanko Kanu, Jermain Defoe
Subs: Lauren, David Nugent, Richard Hughes, Pedro Mendes, Asmir Begovic
Newcastle United: Steve Harper, Habib Beye, Jose Enrique, Abdoulaye Faye, Steven Taylor, Nicky Butt, Geremi, Joey Barton, Oba Martins, Michael Owen (c), Mark Viduka
Subs: Fraser Forster, Damien Duff, Alan Smith, David Edgar, Andy Carroll
Referee: Phil Dowd
Attendance: 20,506
67 comments so far
Andy1
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:07 PM
Comment #41Great play by Oba – so close. He was involved all the way through the move and he looks really composed on the ball lately. Plays simple passes and doesn’t concede position cheaply like he used to.
ObaFan2
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:08 PM
Comment #42Smith just stands there……. he’s clueless
51times
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:10 PM
Comment #430 – 0, and I’m quite happy really.
ObaFan2
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:12 PM
Comment #44Bit dull but a hard game, happy with another point.
obamagic
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:12 PM
Comment #45Oba needs to know when to cross and when to shoot.
arnie
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:12 PM
Comment #46Funny isnt it. The so-called tactical genius big fat sam was obsessed with keeping clean sheets, but his only tactic seemed to be letting the opposition play and get lots of players into our own box. Along comes the so-called tactical inept kevin keegan. He tells his players to keep the ball, pass and move and attack. And suddenly its three clean sheets in four matches…
Obafan
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:13 PM
Comment #47Another clean sheet. Not disappointed with a point at Pompey.
We played good football, but our final pass was always a bad one.
Dubsea
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:13 PM
Comment #48well earnt point. progress continues. hope we can pinch tenth.
The black in the blacknwhite
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:13 PM
Comment #49ozzy you jinxed it!! As i said before the game il settle for the draw- portsmouth a top side- we remain unbeaten im happy!!!
and we were by far the better side- if owen had put the ball away-
Oba had chances- even geremi had chances
bring on the mackems
thats what 5 games unbeaten good for me
Russel
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:14 PM
Comment #50OWEN missed a golden chance.
Howie
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:14 PM
Comment #51good result arnies right.big sam would have been turned on with a game like that.
Jinal
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:14 PM
Comment #52Oba was very selfish today.
Hadrian
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:15 PM
Comment #53ill take that point , thank you very much !!
lot of good things in that match , lets not dwell on the negatives , cant wait till keegan brings in the the rest of the pieces he needs to finish the squad .
Toonlad
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:15 PM
Comment #54Felt there were a few good chances missed there. Ah well, a draw is a draw, and better than a loss!It was a lot more assertive than the last game against Portsmouth.
Right, bring on that lot from Wearside and now that we are in the mood we can finish them off!
ToonKing
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:16 PM
Comment #55feekin’ Pompey, how do you play against teams like this ?? all they cared about was defending and smothering the game…..crap, i’m still happy’ish with the draw and the clean sheet, can’t wait for next week. 😉
dougnufc
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:17 PM
Comment #56Oh well, was quite dissapointed with Owen, he could have tapped it in to the left hand side..
Looking forward to next season
Howie
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:17 PM
Comment #57nice to see a lot of common sense being said on here. not many teams go to fratton and win. i think spurs and boro have only done that this season so id have to say very much a point gained. our defence looks very good apart from one faye error today
Spyro
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:18 PM
Comment #58good result against a strong and fairly pacey pompy side. Well earned point and great defensively to get yet another clean sheet. well done lads.
Spyro
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:20 PM
Comment #59Owen did miss a sitter but lets not forget he was the only player who foresaw a potential mistake and got into space. A draw was a fair result anyway, a display of two good defences
Russel
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:24 PM
Comment #60I won’t be disappointed with OWEN,he is still a great player in the world.
Charlie Bucket
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:25 PM
Comment #61Jose is starting to look really solid in the left back position. He needs to work on his passing when he gets further up the field as he gave the ball away on a number of occasions by punting it into the crowd.
But no, I like this guy and I would be disappointed to see him go.
shirts
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:29 PM
Comment #62I think this shows limitations of the 4-3-3 against a better team.
We still have a lot of work to do, but an away point is good.
Howie
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:31 PM
Comment #63shirts getting a point away from home against the team in 6th and probably gonna win the fa cup hardly is a negative
Stevey
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:32 PM
Comment #64To be fair to Owen, it looks like he had the awareness to know where he was and fire it at the goal as hard as he could. It was just unlucky that it glanced off of James’ forehead. I mean, what are the odds of that?
hanzemre
Apr 12, 2008 at 7:44 PM
Comment #65I am happy for the guys we did enough to earn a draw down there. Just few chances as our final balls were so bad with Viduka & Owen almost lost in the game. We’re pretty much composed in the midfield area so no much to complaint to this 4-3-3 formation. Well done to all guys except 1 (sorry not to you Alan Smith!)
Rob Kirton
Apr 12, 2008 at 8:05 PM
Comment #66@arnie : Couldn’t agree more. Its strange how few goals a team concedes if they try keeping the ball at the right end of the pitch.
People forget that for two years running Keegan actually gave us the 2nd tightest defence in the league (just behind Man U)
However there are far too many people who can’t let the facts get in the way of a good argument.
Ross
Apr 12, 2008 at 8:07 PM
Comment #67decent result today. alot of positives. faye looked excellent again, he’s really good in the air. enrique also had a good game at the back. some of his long balls were terrible though.
the passing seemed a little off in general today though.
geremi put alot of decent balls in but there were a good few corners where he couldnt even get the ball past the first man.
pompey havent been beaten at home since the turn of the year however, and a point is better than none.
bring on the filth next week 😀