City earned a fully-deserved point at a rain-soaked Fratton Park,
despite playing with ten men for all but the first four minutes.

Worthington was able to recall Charlton, Jonson and, surprisingly,
Francis, who lined up alongside Mulryne and Bentley in central
midfield after a five-week layoff with a broken cheekbone. Jonson was
asked to play on the right and Huckerby on the left of a five-man
midfield, with McKenzie alone upfront.

As the first half got underway, Bentley forced a good save with a
long-range drive that took a slight deflection, but it was at the
other end where things got interesting. A City attack broke down and
Pompey counter-attacked swiftly, with Kamara being sent away down the
right. Edworthy was the covering defender, but he mistimed his tackle
and got an early bath for his efforts.

Jonson dropped back to cover, as City changed to a 4-4-1 formation,
but with the wind and rain at our backs, we were in no mood to start
defending. Indeed, it was City who looked the more threatening in the
opening period, and we took the lead within ten minutes.

Huckerby made tracks down the left before cutting back and crossing
towards McKenzie. The cross was only half cleared, falling to Damien
Francis on the edge of the box. He chested the ball down, then
volleyed into the top right corner, giving Hislop no chance.

Francis, unmarked at the far post, almost made it two a few minutes
later when Huckerby fired a shot across the face of goal.
Unfortunately, the ball came to him too quickly and his instinctive
header looped out for a goal kick.

Pompey, perhaps in frustration, were limited to a few long range
efforts that sailed harmlessly wide or over. When they finally did hit
the target, Greeno was at his very best, despite the appalling conditions.

After the break Pompey had the elements in their favour, and we were
increasingly defending in numbers, relying on McKenzie for occasional
breaks. As always the ex Posh striker ran and ran, pressurising the
defenders into mistakes and almost profiting from a defensive slip.

Sadly the frontman's next contribution was to concede a disputed
penalty. As he jumped to head clear, the ref saw a handball* and
pointed to the spot. Yakubu stepped up to take the spot-kick and slid
the ball past Green.

However, Kamara had encroached, so Yakubu was asked to repeat his
task, which he did only for Kamara to encroach again! At the third
time of asking, Yakubu stepped up and scored the penalty and Pompey
finally had their equaliser.

[* Even with the benefit of countless TV replays, it is still hard to
say there was definite contact, and certainly no contact that made any
difference - a very harsh penalty on a day when others escaped blatant
use of the hands!]

With half an hour still remaining, fresh legs were clearly needed, and
Mulryne and McKenzie were replaced by Brennan and Jarvis. And it was
the Canadian wingback that came closest to grabbing a winner, when his
shot was deflected past a stranded Hislop, only for the ball to strike
an upright and bounce clear of Huckerby as he tried to take advantage.

City defended resolutely, and near the end Drury was thrown on at the
expense of Huckerby as City maintained their grip on a precious point
and I wondered if City had ever played with three left backs on the
pitch at one time before?

There was still time for Greeno to make a superb save from Mezague
when he looked set to score, but to have lost even a single point
would have been rough justice. And the point was enough to lift City
out of the relegation zone as the New Year began. MLS