February 7-13: Crowd Record At Fratton As Pompey See Off Newport In The Cup

Monday 7:  Pompey supporters have until tomorrow to apply for  stand seats for Saturday's FA Cup fifth-round match against Newport County.

Centre-stand tickets for Saturday's FA Cup tie are available only to shareholders and season ticket holders. Wing-stand tickets are available to supporters who were issued with a voucher when passing through the turnstiles last Saturday.

Entrance to the terraces on Saturday will be by payment at the turnstiles as usual, but Pompey are again pleading with fans to arrive early. More than 5,000 Newport County supporters are expected to attend. 

Friday 11:  Pompey are hoping to move one step closer to their dream of a league and cup double tomorrow when they face Newport County of Division Three (South) in the fifth round of the FA Cup at Fratton Park. 

Phil Rookes is back in full training following his ankle injury, but Jasper Yeuell will keep his place at right-back in an unchanged Pompey team: Butler, Yeuell, Ferrier, Scoular, Flewin, Dickinson, Harris, Barlow, Clarke, Phillips, Froggatt. 

Pompey officials say they are preparing for an all-time record crowd for the big match tomorrow, possibly as many as 50,000. Turnstiles will open at 11.30am for the 2.30pm kick-off. Extra time will be played if the scores are level after 90 minutes 

More than 5,000 Newport County supporters are expected to arrive in the city from the early hours of tomorrow morning. Ten of them have hired a plane to bring them to Portsmouth Airport.

Portsmouth City Police say that to alleviate delays and congestion around Fratton Park tomorrow parking will be prohibited in Priory Crescent, Anson Road and Rodney Road. 

Pompey Reserves are without a game tomorrow. They were due to play Southampton Reserves in the Combination Cup at The Dell, but Saints' first team have brought forward their home match against Lincoln City. 

The Pompey "A" team will play their first match on their new ground tomorrow. They face Totton Reserves at the Victory Sports Ground, Wych Lane, Fareham. Kick off is at 3pm and admission is sixpence. 

February 12  Newport County supporters have turned the city amber and black this morning. More than 5,000 of them have arrived for the FA Cup fifth round tie against Pompey this afternoon.

The Fratton Park turnstiles opened at 11.30am. Several thousand supporters have already passed through them and the covered accommodation is filling up rapidly. There are still nearly two hours until kick-off. 

The Mayor of Newport, complete with his chain of office and amber and black "favours" has vowed to lead Newportonians in the singing of "Land of My Fathers" to compete with the Pompey Chimes. 

Pompey are through to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, They beat Newport County 3-2 after extra time at Fratton Park this afternoon, but the lively Division Three (South) side pushed them all the way in this thrilling, topsy-turvey affair.

All turnstiles were closed half an hour before kick-off. The crowd of 48,581 was a ground record for Fratton Park.. Many thousands more were locked out. More than 5,000 had travelled from South Wales hoping to see a cup upset. 

Pompey took the lead after just five minutes. Ike Clarke threaded his way through the visitors' defence, drew the goalkeeper, and unselfishly squared the ball for Len Phillips to tap home. 

Newport fought back strongly, and equalised after 15 minutes when Harper scored from close quarters following a corner. 

Things were not going Pompey's way and Newport shocked the huge crowd by taking the lead through Carr after 31 minutes.

Ten minutes into the second half Pompey drew level. A neat move involving Harris and Phillips carved open the Newport defence, and it was Phillips who stroked the ball past the advancing 'keeper. 

It remained a finely-balanced, end-to-end affair but there were no further goals in the 90 minutes and the match went into extra time. The atmosphere reached fever pitch and the Chimes really boomed out with Pompey attacking the station end. 

Pompey squandered a golden opportunity to end the deadlock when they were awarded a penalty, but Barlow fired his spot-kick wide of the upright. 

It was looking as though a replay would be needed but, five minutes from time, Jack Froggatt put Pompey ahead and Fratton Park erupted. Welsh hearts were broken but the Pompey dream of the double is still alive!  Match Summary: Portsmouth 3, Newport County 2

Sunday 13:  It was thumbs up from the Pompey sailor in last night's Football Mail, and why not? The Blues are in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and top of the First Division of the Football League! 

And here is Alan Hoby's report on the thrilling  Pompey v Newport County cup tie - from today's Sunday Express.

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