September 6-12: Two More Wins And Glowing Praise

Monday 6: Pompey’s draw-and-four-wins start to the season is their best in the first division since they were promoted 21 years ago. Their best-ever Football League start was in 1922/23, when they opened with a draw and six wins in Division Three (South). 

Portsmouth’s centre-forward Ike Clarke has recovered from the mouth abscess that laid him low for two and a half weeks and is likely to appear for the Reserves when they take on Bournemouth at Fratton Park tonight (6pm). 

Pompey Reserves beat Bournemouth Reserves 2-0 in front of more than 4,000 at Fratton Park this evening. A 31st minute header from Ike Clarke put Pompey ahead. Cliff Parker sealed the win with a fierce shot from 18 yards in the second half. 

Match Summary Portsmouth Reserves 2, Bournemouth And Boscombe Reserves 0

Wednesday 8: Fit-again Reg Flewin will return to the Pompey side to face Middlesbrough at Fratton Park tonight. Flewin will replace Bowler at centre-half in the only change to the team that won at Stoke on Saturday. Kick-off is at 6pm 

Portsmouth officials are expecting another big crowd for tonight’s match, and are appealing to supporters to arrive early and have the correct change ready at the turnstiles.

Officials say there is a particular difficulty with congestion at the turnstiles for 6pm matches, with many supporters arriving straight from work in the 20 minutes before kick-off. Having the correct change would do much to reduce the problems. 

Portsmouth made it five wins in a row with a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough at Fratton Park tonight, but it took a goal from Duggie Reid just three minutes from time to separate the sides. 

Reid had an early header cleared off the line, but it was a slipshod first 45 minutes from Pompey. Things picked up slightly after the break, but many in the crowd of 33,275 wouldn’t have been happy with the lethargic display by Bob Jackson’s men. 

It looked to be petering out to goal-less stalemate when Reid (pictured) latched on to Dickinson’s perfect through ball to finish off Pompey’s best move of the match. 

Portsmouth will be happy enough with the win, but will no doubt be looking to recapture some of their sparkle when Charlton Athletic visit Fratton Park on Saturday. 

Match Summary: Portsmouth 1, Middlesborough 0

Thursday 9: Here is Ranger’s report on Pompey’s last-gasp victory over Middlesbrough at Fratton Park last night. (From tonight’s Portsmouth Evening News) 

At last night’s match against Middlesbrough, Pompey used the programme notes to clarify some recent changes to the Laws of the Game. 

Friday 10: Portsmouth will hoping to make it six wins in a row when they take on Charlton Athletic at Fratton Park tomorrow (3pm). No changes are expected to the Pompey side, who sit at the top of the table with 11 points. Charlton are third, with 9 points. 

With the weather forecast looking favourable, Pompey are expecting their biggest crowd since the visit of the Arsenal attracted 42,000 to Fratton Park in April. 

Saturday 11: Pompey Reserves, like their first-team colleagues, will be hoping to extend their unbeaten start to the season this afternoon. They travel to Filbert Street to face Leicester City Reserves. Kick-off is at 3pm. 

The Pompey team to face Charlton is “as per programme”.  For the visitors, Robinson replaces Vaughan, who injured a shoulder in their match against Chelsea in midweek. Kick-off is in 35 minutes and the terraces are already looking well populated. 

Roy Humpston has recovered from injury and returns in goal for Portsmouth Reserves against Leicester City at Filbert Street this afternoon. Pompey: Humpston, Yeuell, Drummond, Foxton, McCoy, Thompson, Brown, Delapenha, Clarke, Beale, Parker 

A Duggie Reid hat-trick paved the way for Portsmouth to move three points clear at the top of the first division table with a 3-1 win over Charlton at Fratton Park this afternoon. A season’s best crowd of 39,459 was there to see it.

After a slow start Pompey found their rhythm.  Charlton goalkeeper Bartram made two excellent saves, first from a Harris header and then a fierce drive from Barlow. Reid then flashed a header over the bar from a Froggatt free kick. 

Pompey went ahead four minutes before the break. A Phillips effort was blocked by a defender and as the ball ran loose Reid was on hand to drive it past the helpless Sam Bartram

Pompey doubled their advantage seven minutes after the interval. Harris took a corner on the right and Reid met it with a powerful header into the roof of the net. 

The big crowd was really warming to the Portsmouth performance and as the “Chimes” boomed out from the packed terraces Reid lifted another effort over the bar with the goal at his mercy. 

On 61 minutes Charlton reduced the arrears with a goal against the run of play by Fenton. This was the first goal conceded by Pompey at Fratton Park this season, and the first in any match since the opening day of the season. 

Harris then had two chances to restore the two-goal lead, but both times he fired over the bar. 

In the 75th minute Reid completed his hat-trick. Harris’s clever pass found Phillips, who hung a cross into the penalty area. Reid timed his jump perfectly to guide his header over the advancing Bartram. 

This was a fine victory by a Portsmouth side against the very capable Londoners. Pompey move three points clear at the top of the league, but Middlesbrough and Manchester City now lie in wait as the Blues embark on another  “northern tour”.  

Match Summary: Portsmouth 3, Charlton Athletic 1

Pompey Reserves lost their unbeaten record when Leicester City Reserves beat them 1-0 at Filbert Street this afternoon. 

Match Summary: Leicester City Reserves 1, Portsmouth Reserves 0

In today's local league matches the eye-catching result was Portsmouth Aviation 6 Fratton Locos 6 

Sunday 12: Last night’s Football Mail brought us Ranger’s report on a fine win for Pompey, and Olympian’s view of Portsmouth Reserves first defeat of the season.

There is glowing praise for Pompey in this morning’s Sunday newspapers. Here’s how one of them reported on yesterday’s win against Charlton at Fratton Park.

This match report reminds us that at least Charlton scored against Portsmouth at Fratton Park yesterday, which is something Pompey’s previous five opponents had failed to do. 

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