Pompey recorded a comfortable victory over Championship side Bolton with an impressive performance at Fratton Park.
Brian Howard started for Pompey having originally given Michael Appleton an August 1st deadline to secure his signature, perhaps he knows something we don’t?
The Blues started the game at a quick pace, moving the ball around the field sharply. The first goal came after only six minutes but there was still time for Izale McLeod to see his header over the bar before the deadlock was broken. Glen Morris saved well from David Ngog, and on a quick counter move Kieran Djillali burst into the Bolton half exchanging a one-two with the impressive McLeod before cooly finishing beyond Adam Bogdan.
The atmosphere inside Fratton was memorable again, the majority of the 4,193 fans turning out to see the home side and providing ample support. Tal Ben-Haim was again roundly booed and chanted at, but in footballing terms didn’t put much of a foot wrong all afternoon.
Liam Lawrence was running the show all afternoon, popping up all over the park always looking for the ball and linking play together. It was Lawrence who provided the second goal of the game, Ben-Haim was fouled 25-yards from goal and the former Stoke man curled a fine effort into the top corner.
Despite the friendly nature of the game Pompey continued to push forward, only a desperate Matt Mills clearance denied Brian Howard and Pompey, while Lawrence saw a 30-yard strike flash wide.
Owen Coyle had earlier this week questioned the strength of opposition Pompey would give his Bolton side, but he may have regretted his words as in truth they didn’t really provide much and when former Scummer Kevin Davis had a chance at the Fratton End he could only head over….much to our delight.
Half-time was fast approaching yet Pompey looked for more, a deflected McLeod header deflected into the arms of a greatful Bogdan.
HALF TIME: POMPEY 2 Bolton 0
Pompey made changes at half-time, starlet Ashley Harris replacing Luke Rodgers while Simon Eastwood was given a chance to impress in goal.
A superb double save would have done Eastwood’s chances a world of good as he twice denied Benik Afobe.
Trialist Liam Walker then looped a shot onto the top of the net, and Ashley Harris fired over a good opportunity but Pompey soon added to their tally, Ashley Harris with a diving header at the Fratton End from a sweet Lawrence cross, he certainly looked like he enjoyed that one!
The usual pre-season friendly feeling returned after the third goal as substitutions slowed the pace of the game and legs were rested with the job done.
Bolton had the chance for one last effort on goal but Marcos Alonso fired wildly over when left in acres of space – much to the despair of their sparse number supporters who weren’t given much to cheer all afternoon.
FULL TIME: POMPEY 3 Bolton 0
A superb performance with positives all over the field, a team hashed together over the last few weeks have given a fluid performance.
THE POMPEY PAGES’ Man of the Match: Our best player was definitely former club captain Liam Lawrence. The former Stoke man is one we expect not to be at the club come the league opener against Bournemouth, but his experience and performance today were a throwback to his Premier League days – if only we could negotiate League One wages with him, he’d tear up that league!
The fans left Fratton with a strange feeling of optimism, despite being a pre-season friendly the performance pointed towards a competitive edge in League One, should we be given the chance to secure the players and begin the season.
Next up Pompey travel to The Red Cherry Records stadium to face AFC Wimbledon in their final pre-season fixture before starting their campaign away to Plymouth in the Capital One Cup.
The Pompey Pages 
Fair review. Would be great seeing Lawrence remain at FP however I guess it’s unlikely. It reminded me of when Kevin Dillon was in the Div 3 side way back and was a cut above everybody in that division. Yesterday, for me, showed that if MA is given enough support and the handcuffs are loosened just a bit he has the ability to do something very special for PFC. Fingers crossed that BTH’s words this morning come true.
Posted by Boyler | August 5, 2012, 11:24How did the new boys and trialists fare, how did Liam Walker do?
Posted by Devon | August 5, 2012, 11:29Someone else will have to help out here as I got in right as they kicked off (couldn’t resist just one more beer at The Baffins!) so missed the team sheet announcement…however Walker was one I recognized and he was taken off mid-way through the 2nd half. He looks very good – he and the number 10 (help!)….we busy in midfield and playing very sensible short passing football with pace. I think that might have been Howard(?). I’d sign Walker and given the crowd were singing ‘sign him up, sign him up, sign him up’ I guess there’s your answer. Very tall centre half looked an interesting player (help again!) and I was impressed with the pace of Diyumba (or however you spell it), I can see why App’s likes him too. The youngsters looked good and I guess will get more and more comfortable with each game. The stlye of football was what impressed me the most – they were playing neat, quick passing football. Whether they’ll be allowed to do that in L2 we’ll see. There was also a couple of ‘enthusiastic’ tackles coming in from the youngsters which the Bolton players didn’t appreciate but Mr Coyle said he wanted a test so he got it! As the report mentioned, we all left feeling very encouraged by what we’d seen. Both keepers looked decent too although not as big as James, Henderson and Ashdown.
Posted by Boyler | August 5, 2012, 11:41