The 4 Trialists and more!

Today marked the first day Portsmouth players get back into pre-season training for the upcoming campaign in nPower League One. With only 10 players expected to return training by Appleton it would be interesting to see if any trialists were to be at the Eastleigh training base as well as the under contract players.

This morning The News reporters Jordan Cross and Neil Allen were hot onto the players whom turned up for training, those who didn't and the trialists that were at the ground. Eight under contract senior players were at pre-season training, those missing were Kanu and Aaron Mokoena, the latter heavily linked with a move back to South Africa.

Slowly over the course of the day The News sports journalists identified the four mystery trialists at the training ground. These were Jon Harley (formerly of Chelsea, Watford and Notts County), Mustapha Dumbuya (formerly of Doncaster Rovers), Laurie Walker (plays for Kettering Town) and Simon Eastwood (formerly of FC Halifax Town). All are free agents having been recently released, except for Walker (probably a small compensation fee for being under 23). Both Walker and Eastwood are young goalkeepers, Dumbuya and Harley are both defenders, filling gaping positions left after recent transfers of Joel Ward and Jason Pearce.

Who are these trialists? Let's have a quick run over;

Jon Harley
Age: 32
Position: Left Back/ Left Midfielder
Current Club: Free Agent
Previous Clubs: Chelsea (Loaned to Wimbledon), Fulham (Loaned to Sheffield United and West Ham United), Sheffield United (Loaned to Burnley), Burnley, Watford, Notts County (Loaned to Rotherham United)
Honors: FA Cup Winners Medal (2000- Chelsea)

 

 

Jon Harley playing for Notts County

 What Harley brings more then the other trialists is experience, he has played in every football league in England, from Chelsea and Fulham in the Premier League to Notts County in League Two. This knowledge would be good especially if Appleton chooses to develop young players alongside seasoned professionals such as Harley.

Just for a laugh, let's look at their Football Manager stat profile as well (even if it's not an accurate measurement of their abilities!)

Last FM12 Update

Mustapha Dumbuya
Age: 24
Position: Right Back / Winger
Current Club: Free Agent
Previous Clubs: Wingate & Finchley, Maidenhead United, Potters Bar Town, Doncaster Rovers (Loaned to Crystal Palace)
International Career: Sierra Leone (no caps, but has been called up)

Dumbuya playing for Doncaster Rovers

A great prospect if the club can pull it off, the Doncaster Rovers fans rated him well, and will provide a good solid base in the defence. Young and hungry after being released by Doncaster I'm sure he's eager to get his career back on track. He came through non-league clubs until he was snapped by Doncaster in 2009.

FM Profile;

 

 

Look at the pace! Hope that's true!

Laurie Walker
Age: 22
Position: Goalkeeper
Current Club: Kettering Town
Previous Clubs: MK Dons, Cambridge United, Morecambe

Laurie Walker playing for Kettering Town

This could be a wild card of the trialists, not much is known from what I can see, but he seems to have good hunger to succeed. Perhaps this could be like Stephen Henderson last year, a unknown upon arrival but showed his talent and ability far beyond what fans initially thought. The only drawback is that he is under contract with Kettering Town, so a compensation fee would probably have to be agreed because he's under 23.

Football Manager Stats;

He's rated highly, but that is in the Blue Square Premier, showing FM isn't entirely accurate...I mean Benjani looks amazing in that game...

Simon Eastwood
Age: 23
Position: Goalkeeper
Current Club: Bradford Park Avenue
Previous Clubs: Huddersfield Town (Loaned to Woking and Bradford), Bradford City, FC Halifax Town
International Career: U18 (1 cap), U19 (1 cap)

Playing for Oxford United in 2010

 After a promising start to his career at Huddersfield Town with international appearances with England U18 & U19 Eastwood has found a new club almost each season. Recently he has played with FC Halifax Town in the Blue Square North Division, making 11 appearances. From reading forums concerning his ability I've gathered he's not the best at dealing with long crosses coming into the box. But is good at shot stopping and getting a good distance with his kick (even getting assists!).
There are mixed opinion on whether he can make it at full-time football after appearing for Halifax Town, but let's make this clear, it could've been a mixture of poor defence in front of the young keeper or that he needs more coherent training to make him better at dealing with crosses.Perhaps like Walker Appleton could see some interest in him and would risk taking a gamble with a young goalkeeper!
Also he's recently signed for Bradford Park Avenue, but whether that is on a full-time or part-time based contract is unclear, and whether the club would have to pay a small compensation fee (as he is 23)

Football Manager Screen

(Ignore the age, on a different season of FM12) Strangely his best 'trait' is dealing with crosses and his worse is the strength of his kick. Irony eh?

Hope you've enjoyed this blog, kept is nice and sweet as most my blogs try to be. Hopefully we shall see some developments soon!
Another amusing outcome of today's first day training is the strange manhunt for Kanu's whereabouts after Appleton announced he has no idea where Kanu is, he's officially AWOL. So on Twitter man Pompey fans are amusingly using the hashtag #whereskanu.

#whereskanu ???

Season Ticket Prices in League One 12-13

(Written also for Pompey Pages)

Season Ticket Prices in League One 2012/13

With the promising news that Pompey fans will soon be able to purchase their season tickets for the upcoming season in League One and the news that the supporters will be consulted about the pricing is great. It made me wonder what is the average price of season tickets in League One?

I knew going into this that the pricing structure was not going to be cheap, in fact the cheapest price I was expecting for adults was £250-275 and the most expensive being near £500.

This article is conducted by collecting all the known season ticket prices that have been announced on 25^th May 2012. The clubs missing from this survey are; Sheffield United, Huddersfield, Shrewsbury Town, Notts County, and the winner of League Two Play-off Final (Cheltenham/Crewe)

The way I've conducted the survey was to collate the 19 clubs season ticket prices into three categories which are Adult, Concession and Child (Under 18). These are the normal three ticket categories at most grounds. There were some good deals at individual clubs, but I will discuss that later in the article. Also these are the full price season tickets, not early bird deals.

The prices are a combination of all the prices for each ticket, for instance some of the clubs have different pricing structures in each stand or parts of one particular stand. Some were cheaper with a lot of grounds having terraced stands, these were totalled up and divided by the number of pricing structures, for example Yeovil Town's Adult Season Ticket;

Augusta Westland Centre	Augusta Westland Wing	Screwfix Stand Centre	Screwfix Stand Wing	Thatchers Gold
£380.00	£342.00	£361.00	£323.00	£307.00

So the math would be;

380+342+361+323+307= 1713 /5 = £342 (rounded down)

This was used for each of the categories and then accumulated into a line graph, they will be presented on the same graph to show the varying differences in prices across the league and categories in each club.

 Red= Adult

Green= Concession

Blue= Child

This is the data entry with each individual price if you unable to read on the line graph;

What is interesting about the data is that it isn't what I was expecting in my initial prediction. There is a consistent element in a lot of the clubs around the £330-380 price area for adults, Hartlepool are the cheapest with £155 which works out as an impressive £6.73 per game and the most expensive club are Colchester at £437 per adult season ticket which is exactly £19 per game. This is closely followed by MK Dons at £408 and £17.74 per game, but they are only more expensive by around £30 more than other League One clubs.

If we break this down even further with the price per game model then it highlights the price difference more clearly between clubs;

Key

Red= Adult

Green= Concession

Blue= Child

This new graph shows an encouraging outlook to the League One season ticket prices, with many clubs sticking to astute price structuring, particularly in the children season ticket sector. For example children ticket at Carlisle is £10 for the entire season which is unrivalled in the league, the nearest competitor is Hartlepool and Tranmere which offers children season tickets for £50.

Bury do a great season ticket deal which is called Dad and a Lad ticket which for £310 a dad can take his son (under 11's) to the football which is great, saves £73 then buying individual tickets!

If Portsmouth want to viably attract crowds then they will need to do similar research into pricing structures across League One, and look at ways of attracting people into the lesser used stands i.e. North Stand Upper and South Stand Upper. The club should also do a season ticket similar to Bury and attract dads and sons to games to let them experience football for a season or even the first time.

I don't think we need to be as drastic as Hartlepool, a recent poll had a 'majority' vote calling for Portsmouth season tickets being under £250, which is totally unrealistic. The realistic figure I feel we are looking for is around £15-17 a game for adults, this would put our season tickets around £345-380. It would be a fair reflection of the high maintenance our club has become with high-wages still hanging over the club without any hope of it leaving us quickly.

Pricing structure wise I think Children season tickets should be around £100-125, or around £4 a game, with most the cheaper children seating in South Upper and North Upper to attract more adults and children in to these stands which are often dotted with empty seats, these stands are more family friendly then the more verbally hostile North Lower and Fratton End. The Dad and a Lad deal would work well in these stands also, attracting more family interaction with the club and hopefully blooding another Pompey supporter for years to come.

Similarly the same should be for Seniors/Young Persons/Students, the pricing structure should be cheaper in the South Upper and North Upper. Once more to attract more fans of varying ages to enjoy the club. Even if these stands do have visual obstructions in some parts of the stands but then that's why there is a cheaper ticket price. If they price it reasonably at around £12 a game then it would be around £275 for a season ticket and then structure it to £300 for a seat in North Lower/Fratton End.

For a lot of this article I've always looked at season ticket prices from a full price viewpoint, I feel Portsmouth will either bypass the early bird process because it's so close to the next season or will offer a small reduction to next season ticket for renewals. It would be nice to have a reduction of around 10-20% perhaps, but that's in a perfect world.

My ideal pricing structure for Portsmouth would be like so;

	Adult	Concession (Young Person/ Senior/Student)	Child (U16)	Child (U12)
Fratton End/North Lower	£380.00	£300.00	£125.00	£65.00
North Upper/South Upper	£345.00	£275.00	£100.00	£50.00

So in conclusion I've been pleasantly surprised by a lot of the pricing of season tickets across the football league, the figures may seem quite large when they are collated in a graph, but after breaking them down they do represent good value for money across the season. Some clubs are offering some great deals, whether they are the cheapest prices or offering a great deal for father and son to go the football, it shows how clubs in League One are finding clever ways of attracting more people to football in a time of recession. I for one hope Portsmouth can structure a new season ticket pricing structure as fairly as they can in this league, and it would be harshly unfair to punish us by having the most expensive prices in the league after some paid £500 to watch us fall into financial oblivion and relegation all in one season, not sure if it was worth the £22 a game, do you?

My niggling optimism of late..

Quick short blog this time, as I've not much to say in the closed season. Playing cards close to my chest about our expectations next season, I'd like us to just enjoy the ride and not push for promotion. Enjoy the Johnstone Paint Trophy and get through at least ONE season without mishaps. Just to see a smile back on the fans faces after so long being lied to.

Appy's dream of a youthful and hungry team looks like it could well be possible, the amount of young talent being let go from clubs of late has been interesting to follow, I'm intrigued as to who is going to be signed, as I've said before we need a good mixture of old and wise professionals with youthful prospects who will blossom over time and won't cost the club a lot of money.
Same with transfer dealings, the club need to be clinical and prudent in their sales, I feel we should offer a player to Derby and part exchange Maguire to come back to Fratton Park after his very impressive loan spell at the club. His passion and hunger to play is the exact sort of player we would need to lead us to a successful season next year.

Sad to see Ricardo Rocha and Jamie Ashdown leave the club, but they can find clubs again and play once again I feel, and it would be unfair to stop them doing so, all the best in the future lads!
With Matthew Gledhill leaving the club as well it leaves the club without any goalkeepers for now. We shall see how the overhaul of the club will shape up. But one thing I do hope is the rapid fire sale of the high-earners, as so far only the lower earners have gone i.e. Henderson and Pearce (fetching around £900k in sales) and Ward could soon follow for £450k.

Might look up a few players I think could fit into the squad well next season, one I did get excited about was Izale McLeod who is a free agent now, after a great season with Barnet scoring 23 goals in 72 appearances would be a good addition I feel!

Quiet week at Fratton Park?

Never a dull moment really as a Pompey fan, always things going on at the club that help your week more exciting. With talks in the papers about Neil Warnock citing being 'poisoned' from within the QPR hierarchy and David Beckham signing a new contract with LA Galaxy etc. Portsmouth was busy once more in another ownership wrangle, almost like X-Factor there are the characters who are more outspoken.

Step forward a Mr Joseph Cala, a shrewd Sicilian businessman who takes a single Google search to find out why myself and other Portsmouth fans are concerned with his intent into the club. His going business is a loss making one, claiming to sell high-class underwater casino's and glass bottom yacht's in which it makes a year on year loss, not a good omen.

Joseph Cala, a photo he personally sent to The News. 

Because he didn't like the one they kept showing of him!

Looking further into his credentials shows he previously owned a football club, a Serie D side Salerno Calcio, promising their unfortunate fans of promotion back to Serie A. This was supposedly backed with a '40m euro investment' into the club, which might of won over people, but the money never materialised and Cala left the club with crippling debt after only weeks. Fraud is a common word associated with Joseph Cala, usually following most stories about him.

He claims to have shown the cash necessary to complete the deal with David Lampitt (around £20m, a bold claim) and expects to complete the deal by Friday 20th. But today is that day, he announced Friday afternoon he had pulled out of the ownership race, much to the delight of Pompey fans.
I for one am glad! I think he would have been slow poison, selling off players and taking the money (ala Gaydamak) then asset stripping as well (ala Venky's). Then leave the club in a horrid position and probably on it's knee's facing relegation and oblivion. So it's a relief to hear he's off the radar!

Moving on though, the other news this week is finally somewhat good, and not about who owns the bloody club! I knew after the sad departure of fan-favourite Herman Hreriadasson we had freed up wages for another player, further rumour built with Appleton confirming a new signing in 'a matter of days'. Then The News confirmed Kelvin Etuhu had been training with us for a period of time.

Etuhu playing for Man City against Barcelona

These were confirmed when it was announced he signed a contract taking up him to the end of the season, a good addition to our thin squad. He adds pace and another winger to the squad, an area we desperately are lacking in. He has been a free agent after he was released by Manchester City while serving a prison sentence for assault (not the best reading), but he has stated his desire to play and get back to his best, Appleton also backs him for good things. Hopefully he will prove to be a good addition and I look forward to seeing him in action.

He goes straight into the squad against his old loan club Cardiff, the squad has only 14 fit professionals at the moment, it brings youngsters such as Adam Webster into the squad. Tonight I've seen on Twitter that Sam Magri has joined the first team in the trip to Cardiff. He has to undergo a initiation song as per tradition for new players. Good to see the young lad in the squad, he did well in the Youth Cup mid-week.

Finally the re-singing of Joe Mattock and George Thorne can happen once West Brom's injury crisis gets better, it's the only hindrance to their return. The reason this can happen is when the sudden collapse of CSI happened they were on the wage books, so it is budgeted for. Let's hope WBA injury problems get better (or they sign defenders/midfielders) we can see them back down Fratton Park!

Don't hold much hope for us against Cardiff tomorrow, hope we play well, we managed to nearly grab something against West Ham with 10 men!

Play Up Pompey!

A Little Help From Our Friend (almost)

Finally we get back to domestic football after the short lived FA Cup campaign after a 4-0 loss to Chelsea, after reading updates most of the day when I could (working you see..) it sounded like a harsh defeat. But positives came out of the game as well, such as holding a top 4 team to 0-0 for 45 minutes.

Going into the fixture against title chasing West Ham we are unbeaten at home since we lost to Peterborough 3-2 in September 2011, impressive to say the least. I wasn't sure how we would fair in this game, with injuries stretching our squad, Varney, Rocha out still the team saw Adam Webster make another return to the bench over experienced players like Kanu.

West Ham themselves have a few injuries and their form hasn't been good of late, they've never been able to capitalise on Southampton of late, whenever they've lost, West Ham have lost, vice versa with wins. So to keep the pressure on the rivals down the road they had to win, their away form is the best in the league. This was going to be a clash of form from the offset.
Now for a confession, I have no idea who Kevin Friend is (only referee's I remember are Slaughter and Deadman), maybe if I was told he was that infamous referee from the Sunderland and Reading game last season then I might of guessed where this game was going in terms of decisions....

Friend sends off Yebda against Sunderland back in 2010

The switch of ends was interesting, it was the first time this has happened at home since we played Peter....oh dear....this does not bode well. Now within 15 minutes Friend already made a few dubious decisions, such as Futacs being held, being pulled the ground etc. The decisions were soft and were never for us it seemed. Halford came close early on after Lawrence dinked a lovely ball into the penalty box and Halford headed over.

We found it difficult to get the ball of West Ham at times, they kept possession well and pushed forward slowly but with confidence, it was a boring first half in this respect. West Ham lacked clinical finish, they would push forward but never get a shot on goal, always broken down before this. Portsmouth when we ever saw the ball were too stifled and slow, again losing the midfield battle which we always do!

Then came the penalty, hard to see from the Fratton End, didn't know what it was for, but seems to have been a little bit soft, especially when Futacs had been dragged the ground twice by West Ham players prior to this, with a help of an arm around his neck! Noble scored and Henderson was unlucky not to have saved it, just getting a hand to it.

I can't really be bothered to talk about the rest of the game, as otherwise I'll just get angry about the referee! I found him to be totally incompetent at referee-ing this game, he just was not consistent. Papa Bouba Diop would go down (because he's a donkey on ice) and it's a foul, but being hacked to the floor isn't? A utter joke, the stats make us look dirty, but West Ham were no angels, Kevin Nolan should've been given another yellow for dissent for constantly trying to influence the referee, always chatting in his ear. No wonder he can't hit the target, he had 4 good chances and waste ALL of them.

The red card against Norris was baffling, he didn't take too much time thinking about it, I bet he even grinned at the possibility to show a Pompey player a red card, again. It totally ruined the game for both sides, neither played anything decent. Pompey kept trying to push for an equaliser but was thwarted by our numerical disadvantage and West Ham couldn't get a ball into a decent position to score, if they want to get promoted they need to score more goals, as we could've won/drawn the game had it not been for Norris going.

I was also left fuming by the decision of Friend to signal for a corner and then blow for full time while setting up to take the corner, which left our players very annoyed, Lawrence making his feelings clear to Kevin Friend after the game. Henderson even wanted to run up and have a go! But no, just wanted to pile on the misery more for us. I hope we don't see him again!


Another issue I'd like to raise is the poor performance level of Erik Huseklepp recently, maybe it's down to stamina or fatigue, but he hasn't been performing very well of late, giving away possession, poor passing, he just seems off the boil. But no one gives him stick, unlike a certain Dave Kitson who gets just about every curse word under the sun shouted at him, his work rate is phenomenal, he's always chasing balls, trying to get involved in play, granted sometimes it isn't fantastic, but at least he is trying! Him and Futacs are a good little partnership, maybe if we got another striker who isn't just a 6ft + tower with no pace we could utilise that system in a 4-3-3, but until then it'll be them two.

So that broke out fine home record and the start of a very very difficult few weeks. By the end of February we shall know if we are in a relegation battle or aiming to push into the play-off's. Games against Cardiff, Hull and Ipswich will be tough games, but hopefully we can at least get something out of these games, even if it's a draw.

Play Up Pompey, hope we can get in someone in on loan soon after the departure of the legend that is Herman Hreiðarsson, one of the last remaining squad members from the 2008 FA Cup winning side. He has been such a character in his time at the club, may I wish him the best of luck at Coventry, and we hope to see him again in the future!
I'll leave the blog today with a picture of his antics from the FA Cup celebrations!

Marko that! Portsmouth vs Watford

Heady days at the moment to be a Portsmouth fan, on the upside is that after yesterdays result we are unbeaten at home since the 3-2 loss to Peterborough, another is the rise of Marko Futacs into the first team. The 6ft 5' Hungarian striker has burst onto the scene after a few cameo appearances throughout the season (first time I've seen him play properly since FC Rostov and Saints game), after finishing emphatically against Leicester he was given his second start against Watford, but more of that later. I met him a few weeks back at work with his girlfriend (who was stunning) and was really friendly, no one recognised him.

I was apprehensive about this game, I think it's the fact when in the bookies prior to the game I read that Watford were on a 8 game unbeaten streak and then remembering how awful we played at the reverse fixture (worst game of football I've seen). I know from that game they have some very quick and skillful players such as Sordell and then big physical players like Iwelumo up front (he was a constant menace in the reverse fixture).
For us we had two suspensions (Halford and Ward) and injuries to count too (Rocha and Varney), it was a worry, especially with the possibility of Mokoena in defence against fast, quick players. After reading the line-up with Huseklepp, Kitson and Futacs heading our attack it sounded promising, but the first half would give a indication on how this would work.
The tribute to Len Phillips was well observed by all corners of the ground (something Watford fans aren't used to), including the away fans. The first half was entertaining for us, good passing play and pressing forward at any opportunity, Futacs and Kitson worked well together acting as holding forwards allowing everyone to get forward, it was still stifled and static at times allowing us to be punished in the midfield. Still have a lack of belief in our final third, I don't know why no one can just have a shot if they can? Do they fear ridicule? I mean it'll either go over, be saved, or go in, even go out for a corner! Kitson had a good shot at goal with a quick touch, swivel and volley but straight at Scott Loach, perhaps Norris and Kitson should have made their shots count better, as they had more time on the ball and wasted their shots at times, especially Kitson. By half time the BBC statistics said that Watford hadn't had a single shot on-target OR off-target, mind-boggling! Usually it's the other way around! Not that Watford had any chances during the first half, they had numerous but we eventually broke down the attacks and stifled it, often giving them little room to get the header or shot away, Sordell was the main danger man, quick on his feet!
A few bits of sloppy play here and there by Mokoena, kept being caught out time and again, luckily for us he wasn't punished by this, another was how slow we are to break out of the box, by the time it's kicked out Watford have got back into position! No urgency to get forward or playing it quickly.

Second half was perhaps the best team performance of the season by us I think, completely dominated the game and made Watford pay for being poor in the first half. After a lacklustre beginning in which the Fratton End went a bit silent for a while we pressed forward, constantly knocking on Watford's penalty box, after a cleared corner Lawrence and Norris combined for a quick corner and Norris crossed it deep to be met by Futacs who headed top corner to put us in the lead, well deserved for the lad as he worked hard during the game, him and Kitson were being a nuisance to the Watford defence (who may I add are quite short for defenders? With two 6ft 4/5 strikers in the box they were not going to win anything!) throughout the game. Straight from the restart we pressed again. Carl Dickinson fouled Liam Lawrence shortly after the goal which led to much banter between him and the fans, chants of "You're fucking useless, we've seen you before" etc. which led to him revealing his 'golden boys' later to the Fratton End, much to the guffawing Fratton End!

Futacs celebrating after scoring against Watford (from Daily Mail)

Then came what we thought was the 2nd goal, but wasn't, I thought Lawrence wasn't offside, Appleton doesn't believe he was either. After a quick break Mattock worked his way into a shooting opportunity and let rip a curling shot which Scott Loach was equal to but had to only palm it away Lawrence pounced on the looping ball to head into a exposed goal, cue jubilant celebrations but quickly quelled with the sight of the linesman's flag, it caught everyone by surprise, even Sky Sports News reported the goal before rescinding it.
A mention quickly to mention the Watford fans who cheekily chanted at us "Shall we sing a song for you" which was met by a few laughs since I seem to remember Vicarage Road is one of the quietest stadiums I've been at since Loftus Road! 1,700 out sang all of home fans I seem to remember! The banter stretched to a quick and silly "Da da da da fucking Eustace" when he came on a sub.
More pressing play from Pompey which kept us fans on our toes as we were hoping for the second killer goal in the last 15 minutes of the game after Lawrence's header was ruled out earlier, and our moment looked to come in the form of Scott Loach being sent off after handling outside the box while challenging the oncoming Futacs, it was hard to call from where I was sitting, I thought he impeded a goalscoring opportunity, but the reports say different and seem more correct. On came the young Jonathan Bond and boy was he tested after, we piled on the pressure once more, constantly looking for the killer goal, it didn't take long though. A cross by Erik into the box was mis-kicked by Mullins who then controlled once more and fired low into the net, game over, it was the killer goal we needed to make sure we got 3 precious points, the relief was felt all around the ground and probably the manager too. Nearly grabbed as Futacs beared down on goal, rounded the defender and let rip a thunderous shot that cannoned off the upright and over, what a hit it was! We all thought it was going in! The man of the match was a bit dubious (Henderson....), I personally would've either given it to Lawrence or Futacs, they played brilliantly and were instrumental to the victory, always moving into space and creating chances, especially Lawrence, finally getting back to his old self which is good!

Overall it was the best team performance of the season, we piled on the pressure and were right on top of the game throughout, after worrying about the game prior to kick-off I'm mightily relieved to come away with a 2-0 victory going into what is a tough fixture list ahead. Improved performances from Lawrence who has steadily improved and getting back to his best after a poor start to the season. I also think this is the first of many good performances from Marko Futacs, he has great skill and composure for someone his age and looks to be a real bargain if he continues to perform well. Has a cracking shot on him, as well as his heading ability, makes you wonder how the team will shape up after Varney is back from full fitness, maybe a 4-3-3 formation might appear? Who knows, but for now it's all about Marko Futacs and his explosive start to the starting line-up, long may it continue!

Up next is tricky games ahead, FA Cup away tie against Chelsea, title chasing West Ham and 'rivals' Cardiff in the next 3 weeks! Let's hope for some loan signings in the window, but that's for another blog! Play Up Pompey!