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    Pompey crisis: 15 players, no goalkeeper

    Portsmouth are racing against time to field a team for their first Championship game against Coventry City in just 10 days' time.

    The depth of Portsmouth's personnel crisis is shown on the club's official squad list, which shows just 15 players - and no goalkeepers.

    Cash-strapped Pompey were relegated from the Premier League last season after falling into administration, prompting a mass exodus of players whose wages they could no longer afford.

    The club were docked nine points when administrators came in, and only narrowly staved off a winding up order. However, they now find themselves with a paper-thin playing staff and - most seriously - nobody to play between the sticks.

    Most of the 33 players who represented Pompey in the Premier League last season have now left the club, including England goalkeeper David James and Algeria wing-back Nadir Belhadj.

    Others who were at Fratton Park on loan last term, such as Aruna Dindane and Jamie O'Hara, have now returned to their parent clubs.

    And several of the remaining players are expected to leave, including Tal Ben Haim, John Utaka and Kevin Prince Boateng, reducing the ranks still further.

    Ibrahima Sonko joined on loan from Stoke on Tuesday, but Pompey still do not have enough players to fill a team and substitutes' bench.

    Goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown is expected to be offered a permanent deal this week, having been released by the club at the end of last season.

    The 29-year-old has been with Pompey on a non-contract basis during a pre-season tour of the US that has lowered spirits further.

    A cancelled flight and lost luggage left them in disarray as they lost 4-0 to DC United on Sunday.

    Even the official site's match report failed to find any positives, complaining: "No training, no sleep, no kit — no big surprise Pompey got drubbed at DC United."

     

     

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