Not a bad performance 0-1 half time
Sloppy though for WHU goal
Will be good to see a few of the nippers strut their stuff tonight
Not a bad performance 0-1 half time
Sloppy though for WHU goal
Pompey: Bass; Mnoga, Bolton, Downing (c), Rew; Kavanagh, Bell, Morris, Teggart; Stanley, Hiwula
A West Ham View........
'West Ham United U21s become the first team to beat Portsmouth in the Papa John's Trophy since 9 January 2018 - more than two-and-a-half years ago, or 1036 days, to be precise.
Three wins out of three to top Group A of the southern section of the competition, and they'll be seeded for the knockout stages.
Aside from one sharp stop in the first half, Nathan Trott didn't have too much to do in the Hammers' goal, as the side produced a resolute performance to make sure Kai Corbett's early goal was the winner.'
I agree D,I thought Downing was very solid.
But again it was a bit hoofy,so many times the ball was hoofed up to Hiwula and iirc only once did he flick it on,all the other times it went over him and headed away by the centre backs.
I was a little bemused by Mnoga,he was a different player to the one at Ipswich..he seemd to have little skill apart from trying to run through the opposition.
Stanley had a couple of good moves.
Teggart disappointed me.
All in all it was a bit of a non game,maybe to be expected with an ad hoc team..but at least they were not disgraced.
PUP
Agreed about Mnoga, he even looked slower yesterday. Hopefully just had an off day. I also thought Downing looked pretty solid and made some very good blocks but blotted his copybook rather near the end by running into trouble, losing the ball and nearly gifting them a second. In his defence he was trying to take the ball forward and couldn't find anyone free to pass to.I think he may still have to play a part this season so best to give him some game time. It was a great runout for the youngsters, some of whom looked a bit lightweight but others (Rew) looked confident on the ball.
All in all, was it a team we wanted to put out?
Don't really see the point of competitions if you don't try and win.
Well it was a no lose loss.
We are still on the road to our third cup final in a row all be it the nobody (except me) cares cup