turned up to make sure the landlady was OK, which she told them she was.
Emsworth has several good pubs, but time flies when you are having fun and
the 20 or so of us headed back to the station to get the 13.57 to get to
Fratton at 14.10. The train was fairly full and we eventually crawled into
Fratton station about 25 minutes late.
We made our way with a large Police escort to the ground. Several Pompey
piled out of a social clubs and a few bottles were thrown. The Police soon
had truncheons drawn and the next incident saw a large Pompey mob try and
get to Brighton fans as we turned round the corner to get to the away end.
Right outside the away end were several more of Portsmouths finest.
A lad in a Brighton shirt just ahead of us was knocked to the ground with a
head-but and the lad just in front of me received a nasty thump to the jaw.
I complained of lack of protection to a Police Women who said nothing, but
then stopped me at the entrance a minute or so later to say that if I had a
problem with the way it was being Policed I would not be let in?
Bo**ocks to that, she was sh*t scared of what was happening and left people to get a slap. Luckily Liz stepped in and pushed me inside and away from her. I
noticed that they had opened the gates to let Brighton fans in and
apparently did move on the Neanderthals away from attacking any more
Brighton fans!
People may say why should she get involved with big lads, well isn't that what she is paid for? Not up for the job, well perhaps she shouldn't be doing it then!
I was fuming by now, but as the game wore on forgot about that and
concentrated on the game. We lasted 3 minutes this time, before Pompey sliced us apart and they scored with a drive across Petterson into the far corner. I though, oh heck, is another 5-1 defeat on the cards?
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Then Bennett decided to start influencing the game. He gave a poor penalty
at Wimbledon from what I saw on TV and now he was at it again. First he
blows up against Butters and its 2-2.
He lectures and awards free kicks every time an Albion player moved! 2-2 at half time would have been good but then just before the whistle, Merson chipped over a ball to an offside looking Taylor who pulled it back for Tordov to put them 3-2 up! Taylor decided to run towards us to celebrate, to**er!
Second half and we started brightly. Then Bennett gives a disputed free
kick against Carpenter, calls him over, but then allows Pompey to take a
quick free kick. Chippy is well out of position and Pompey make us pay, so
at 4-2 Pompey relaxed and soaked up any attacks we had.
Barrett had a reasonable game, but then he was involved in a melee and from
our position in the opposite corner the 2 players traded blows. I said , 2
red cards no doubt, but NO, a red for our player and just a yellow for them!
Next Pethick was flattened by Festa which resulted in several minutes of
treatment, Bennett just has a friendly word with him! That reminded me that
at the start of the game, Burton took a dive in our area and the Ref blew up
and gave us a free kick for diving, but failed to book him!
We were kept in for about 20 minutes after the game, the Police held back
the Pompey mob at the top of the road and we were safely escorted back to
the football special! Had a few beers in Chapmans outside Worthing station
then had a curry on the way home!
Sunday decided to put football out my head, and only thought about it when
we got a Sports Argus Sunday afternoon! We lost and are now 3rd from
bottom, but deserved something for the way we battled. My MOTM was between Cullip and Brooker. According to the papers Cullip and Pethick clashed at half time. This is not the first time!!!
Nice friendly Millwall away next....can't wait!!
Mark R