Premier League - Priceless win for Portsmouth

Eurosport - Sat, 18 Apr 18:50:00 2009

Portsmouth earned a priceless three points in their battle to avoid dropping out of the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Bolton at Fratton Park.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Premier League Portsmouth Kanu - 0

Substitute Kanu prodded the ball over the line from close range for the only goal of the match after 78 minutes, following a corner from fellow sub Nadir Belhadj to ease Pompey's relegation fears and have Bolton looking over their shoulders.

Earlier on Jussi Jaaskelainen had kept the visitors in it with a string of fine saves - mainly from Portsmouth full-back Glen Johnson, but the win came at a price for the hosts as Nico Kranjcar suffered what appeared to be a bad injury midway through the second half.

The match burst into life shortly before the half hour mark as Johnson had the first of a string of chances to open the scoring for the home side.

First the England man skipped past two challenges and advanced to the edge of the Bolton area before unleashing a powerful shot that Jaaskelainen had to palm around his right hand post.

Then Bolton centre-back Andy O'Brien presented Johnson with another fine opportunity minutes later when his misplaced back pass went straight to Johnson with only Jaaskelainen to beat, but the shot was straight at the Finland keeper.

Portsmouth and Johnson came even closer after 38 minutes when the ball broke to the full-back in the penalty area and his shot was spectacularly tipped onto the post by the Bolton keeper.

The visitors replied straight away with their best chance of the half when a long ball forward drifted over the Portsmouth back line.

Johan Elmander ran onto it and fired in a left footed shot that David James was just about equal to diving to his right.

Injuries to Sean Davis and Ricardo Gardner led to five additional minutes being played in the first half and during the last of these David Nugent curled a shot from range narrowly wide of Jaaskelainen's left hand post.

The second half offered less in the way of clear-cut openings and the match looked to be heading towards a draw when the injury to Kranjcar, suffered in a challenge with Gavin McCann hastened Belhadj's arrival.

The substitute's first touch was a spectacular one as his corner sailed over everyone before arriving at the feet of Kanu right on the line; the Nigerian striker bundled it in to give Pompey the lead.

Portsmouth and Kanu could have increased their respective counts late on but for Jaaskelainen's fine display and Belhadj should have done better when through on goal, but one was enough for Pompey in the end.

Sean Calvert / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 13 of 13

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  1. Kanu's sheer presence is enough to force a goal!­ God love him - he's not the quickest but he creates­ so much time on the ball and has such great vision.­ He's got another year as a squad player in the top­ flight; hope we keep him (and get Gary O'Neill­ back). I'm guessing we'll lose Krancjar in the­ summer?

    From mark c, on Sun 19 Apr 12:45PM

  2. Another negative display by Megson. Why keep persisting­ with Elmander who could not hit a cows bum with a­ banjo.
    Smolareck scored 4 goals in an international­ for Poland yet never gets a run out.
    I hope he gets­ the boot at the end of the season and we start a fresh­ with some youthful additions to the squad and a new­ manager and coach. Sven Erikson would be better than­ Megson

    From Colly, on Sun 19 Apr 12:24PM

  3. Another 3 points should be enough! We can write off­ Weds against United but lets hope that we can get­ something from the Newcastle game ( a virtual 6 pointer­ - dog eat dog).
    Keep going Pompey and looking forward­ to a better next season with hopefully the summer­ sorting out much of the problems.

    From Big Dave, on Sun 19 Apr 8:40AM

  4. well done pompey good win ,,,,,, and the jerk rock and­ roll ,,,, the tricorn is not around anymore is that­ were your mum went with a pompey fan and produced you ­ ,,,,,,,,,,,, so sad your only memory of pompey­ was a wall job for all the bell boys with your mom ­ now go lose yourself in some s h i t

    From Chris, on Sat 18 Apr 6:17PM

  5. Great result Pompey !!!

    The've all gone quiet in­ Soton :-))

    PLAY UP POMPEY.

    From Anthony, on Sat 18 Apr 5:41PM

  6. Gutless! What's more gutless than hiding behind an­ idiotic pseudonym - Rock & Roll, you are about as­ 'rock and roll' as my granny, and she's­ dead! As for your predictions, wrong yet again. Nobody­ cares about your @#$%ty little (yes LITTLE) team or the­ w*nkers like you who support them

    From Peter S, on Sat 18 Apr 5:38PM

  7. Really important win! Hope we stay up!

    Play up­ Pompey!

    Rock and Roll: We need the Spurs help­ tomorrow, so do us favour and beat Newcastle!

    From vukris15, on Sat 18 Apr 5:32PM
  8. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    HELLO LEZA........YOU STILL RUG MUNCHIN FOR THE SKATES?­ I HEARD THEY GOT A COURT ORDER BANNING YOU FROM THE­ TRICORN CENTRE, COS TWO GIANT MONSTROSITIES IN THE SAME­ CITY WOULD BE TOO MUCH.....THEY SHOULD HAVE LOOKED AT­ FRATTON!!!!!!!!!!!

    From ROCK AND ROLL, on Sat 18 Apr 2:46PM

  9. Rock and roll the so called yid football fan that­ FOOTBALL CAN DO WITHOUT, GET ON YOUR OWN SITE, just cos­ the pages of your 1980s porn stash are all stuck­ together youve nothing better to do hahahahaha MWAH­ PLAY UP POMPEY

    From Yvonne, on Sat 18 Apr 1:55PM
  10. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    AH, PETER S OR IS THAT PETERS AND LEE. HE WAS BLIND­ ASWELL.....YOU WERE THE SAME PORTSCUMMER THAT SAID­ SPURS WERE GOING DOWN THIS YEAR AND PORTSCUM WOULD BE­ IN EUROPE. SAME OLD PORTSCUM G0BSH1TE........PORTSCUM­ ARE WITHOUT DOUBT THE MOST GUTLESS FANS IN­ EUROPE............GO AND SUPPORT­ BRIGHTON.........BETTER FOOTBALL BETTER FANS......

    From ROCK AND ROLL, on Fri 17 Apr 3:37PM

  11. Oh, a couple of weeks ago it was Europe this year -­ maybe you mean next season? In either case, dream on!­ Spurs, the most hated team in the EPL, a team of­ lightweights and jokers. The only decent team in North­ London in the Champions League semi, meanwhile Spurs­ wallowing in their usual mid-table mediocrity. Rock­ & Roll, you really are a tw*t. Play up Pompey!

    From Peter S, on Fri 17 Apr 12:46PM
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    MATCH FACT - PORTSCUM WILL LOSE AND THEN GO­ DOWN..........THANKS FOR HARRY YOU FILTH..........COME­ ON SPURS, EUROPE NEXT YEAR........

    From ROCK AND ROLL, on Fri 17 Apr 11:39AM

  13. Go on Bolton!!! Elmander to get a hat-trick!!

    From ivan.viki, on Thu 16 Apr 9:30PM
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