The Blues round off pre-season preparations with a narrow victory on home soil.
The Australian's goal was scored in the dying moments of Pompey’s final fixture ahead of their Championship campaign, which begins next Saturday.
Today’s result meant that Portsmouth went unbeaten throughout pre-season, with wins over Woking, Farnborough, Crawley, Reading, and Brighton Under-21’s.
As well as a 0-0 draw midweek against Havant and Waterlooville, which saw a rather youthful Pompey 11 in the second 45.
Today’s result meant that the Blues not only went unbeaten in pre-season, but they also did not concede a single goal throughout their Championship preparations.
The first half at Fratton Park this afternoon was rather stale, with neither side having any clear-cut chances at goal.
Summer signing Adrian Segečić showed glimpses of quality, almost assisting fellow Aussie Waddingham, but the Blauwvingers' defence got the ball cleared.
Callum Lang arguably came the closest to a goal, but the forward's effort off the end of Josh Murphy’s cross went sky high over the net.
Half-time: Portsmouth 0-0 PEC Zwolle
John Mousinho’s side certainly performed a lot more like themselves after the interval, with Josh Murphy coming close twice early into the second 45.
Segečić came close to scoring a rather spectacular goal just after the hour mark; however, Tom de Graaff in the Zwolle net managed to tip the ball over the bar.
With twenty minutes left to play, Mousinho made three changes, with Jordan Williams, John Swift, and Callum Lang all coming off for Marlon Pack, Zack Swanson, and new signing Florian Bianchini, who joined two days ago from fellow Championship side Swansea City on a season-long loan.
Then shortly after Hungarian midfielder Márk Kosznovszky came on to make his Pompey debut, replacing Josh Murphy, who was captain until Marlon Pack’s entry to the pitch.
Florian Bianchini came close to scoring his first Portsmouth goal, but the French forward’s effort went just wide after the Swansea loanee found Waddingham’s flick on.
South-African international Luke Le Roux was the Blues’ fifth sub of the day, with the former IFK Värnamo midfielder coming on for Andre Dozzell late on.
And then, with two minutes remaining after peppering the Zwolle goal for the majority of the second half, Pompey found a breakthrough when Bianchini’s cross on the left flank found Waddingham in the penalty area, who sliced home a late winner to seal Pompey’s pre-season off with a win.
After the goal, Mousinho’s sixth and final sub was Australian defender Hayden Matthews, who came on for Irishman Conor Shaughnessy ahead of the additional three minutes of added time.
Full-time: Portsmouth 1-0 PEC Zwolle
Next up: It will all be for real come Saturday, 9th August, when John Mousinho’s side visit the Kassam Stadium to face Gary Rowett’s Oxford United in one of 12 Championship curtain raisers next weekend.
Since retiring as a player to join as Pompey Head Coach in January 2023, John Mousinho has faced his former side 5 times, being unbeaten in all 5 fixtures and winning two, with one coming in the Blues’ promotion season at Fratton Park and the other being a 2-0 win at the Kassam last season.
Can Portsmouth kick-start their Championship campaign with a win? Tune in next Saturday from 2pm, for all the unmissable action on PompeyLive.
Portsmouth: Schmid (GK), Williams (Swanson), Poole, Shaughnessy (Matthews), Ogilvie, Swift (Pack), Dozzell (Le Roux), Lang (Bianchini), Segečić, Murphy (C) (Kosznovszky), Waddingham
Unused Subs: Killip (GK), Bowat, Farrell, Devlin, Ferguson (Trialist), Clout
Head Coach: John Mousinho
PEC Zwolle: de Graaff (GK), Floranus, Aertssen, García MacNulty, Kostons, de Rooij, Oosting, Graves, Thomas (C), Monterio
Subs: Dobbin (GK), Verduin (GK), Reiziger, Lagsir, Reijnders, Pereira de Gama, Buitink, van der Haar, Fichtinger, Renwarin, Manu
Head Coach: Henry van der Vegt
Venue: Fratton Park
Attendance: 8,273 (including 226 PEC Zwolle fans)
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