Post by weallloveleeds on Sept 26, 2007 12:05:51 GMT -1
Went to this last night with my Burnley supporting dad, thought I'd do a little write-up to make the Burnley boards look a bit busier! 
First of all the ticket-pricing was stupid, thus only 8000 turned out, with around 250 Portsmouth fans. This meant for quite a poor atmosphere. With more sensible pricing the attendance could have easily broken 10k for a rare match against a Premiership team.
As the team line-ups were read out, by far the biggest cheer from the Clarets' fans came for Traore- who famously scored an own goal against Liverpool to send Burnley through at Turf Moor.
The game;
In the first half, Burnley were the better team, playing some nice passing, but the isolated Akinbuyi, was left with little support. Carlisle and Akinbuyi had the best Burnley chances, but both were saved. Pompey were really not playing as a team- their players had more skill and class about them, but they really didn't help each other out- hence they were on the back foot for that half. It was defensive mistakes that let Burnley in, but a combination of poor finishing and desperate defending saved them. Notable Portsmouth attempts came from a couple of speculative Matty Taylor drives. The best chance in the first half fell to Nugent who found himself one on one againt Kiraly- he tried to be cocky, and to the amusement of the Burnley fans it was saved.
The second half was a totally different story, this time it was Pompey who dominated. They played some good attacking football whiched stretched Burnley. The Clarets looked particularly vulnerable after corners as Pompey would outpace them, leaving them in ridiculous 6 on 2 situations at times. A goal looked inevitable, and it was. Of all players it was the ex-Preston Nugent who broke the dead-lock. The goal wasn't without controversy as the Burnley fans claimed Nugent brought the ball down using his hand. From my angle (behind him), it looked like he did, but my view was quite poor. The pompey fans went mental, and the Burnley fans vented their disapproval at the ref. After this Pompey continued to control the game, with Burnley having brief counter-attacks from which nothing materialised. Robbie Blake was brought on at around the 75min mark, but this was far too late for a player of his quality to influence the game.
First of all the ticket-pricing was stupid, thus only 8000 turned out, with around 250 Portsmouth fans. This meant for quite a poor atmosphere. With more sensible pricing the attendance could have easily broken 10k for a rare match against a Premiership team.
As the team line-ups were read out, by far the biggest cheer from the Clarets' fans came for Traore- who famously scored an own goal against Liverpool to send Burnley through at Turf Moor.
The game;
In the first half, Burnley were the better team, playing some nice passing, but the isolated Akinbuyi, was left with little support. Carlisle and Akinbuyi had the best Burnley chances, but both were saved. Pompey were really not playing as a team- their players had more skill and class about them, but they really didn't help each other out- hence they were on the back foot for that half. It was defensive mistakes that let Burnley in, but a combination of poor finishing and desperate defending saved them. Notable Portsmouth attempts came from a couple of speculative Matty Taylor drives. The best chance in the first half fell to Nugent who found himself one on one againt Kiraly- he tried to be cocky, and to the amusement of the Burnley fans it was saved.
The second half was a totally different story, this time it was Pompey who dominated. They played some good attacking football whiched stretched Burnley. The Clarets looked particularly vulnerable after corners as Pompey would outpace them, leaving them in ridiculous 6 on 2 situations at times. A goal looked inevitable, and it was. Of all players it was the ex-Preston Nugent who broke the dead-lock. The goal wasn't without controversy as the Burnley fans claimed Nugent brought the ball down using his hand. From my angle (behind him), it looked like he did, but my view was quite poor. The pompey fans went mental, and the Burnley fans vented their disapproval at the ref. After this Pompey continued to control the game, with Burnley having brief counter-attacks from which nothing materialised. Robbie Blake was brought on at around the 75min mark, but this was far too late for a player of his quality to influence the game.
