REPORT: Pompey 2, Watford 2

Photo Credit: Jason Brown

The spoils are shared between the Blues and The Hornets under the Fratton Park floodlights.

An opening goal from Yang Min-hyeok was very quickly cancelled out early in the second half when The Hornets struck the net twice in the space of 10 crazy minutes as far as Portsmouth were concerned.

However, Adrian Segečić came off the bench to punt home an equaliser with just over 10 minutes to go.

John Mousinho made 4 changes to the side that lost 2-1 at Portman Road last Saturday - Jordan Williams came in for Zack Swanson, Marlon Pack was in for Luke Le Roux, John Swift for Márk Kosznovszky, and Connor Chaplin replaced Adrian Segečić in the XI.

Pompey took the lead just five minutes in, and it was a first goal in a Blues shirt for Tottenham Hotspur loanee Yang Min-hyeok.

The South Korean winger was on hand to slice the ball on the half-volley into the bottom left-hand corner of Egil Selvik’s net to make it 1-0, as he ran over to the North Lower with a classic knee slide.

Boo’s lauded from the away end when Watford manager Paulo Pezzolano made the bold decision to bring off Australian forward Nestory Irankunda for Rocco Vata half an hour in, but that was a change that proved to pay off early in the second 45.

HALF-TIME: Portsmouth 1-0 Watford

The admission of the Republic of Ireland International onto the pitch was met with a huge impact just one minute after the interval.

Left completely unmarked, Vata burst down the left flank at some speed before placing the ball to Moroccan midfielder Imran Louza, who tapped it home to make things level.

Former Newcastle United and Spurs midfielder Moussa Sissoko then linked up with Vata just moments after the equaliser to put the visitors in front.

The Frenchman’s ball into the box was met by the first-half substitute to make it two-one to Watford just 56 minutes gone.

Pompey then went on to play the remainder of the game searching for an equaliser rather than a winner, as they piled on the pressure for a response.

Sub Adrian Segečić found that response for Portsmouth, as Harvey Blair caressed the ball on the ground to the Aussie attacker, who smashed the ball past Selvik’s near-post to make it two-two on 79 minutes and score his third goal of the season.

FULL-TIME: Portsmouth 2-2 Watford

Next up: It’s back to Fratton Park for Portsmouth on Saturday, when they welcome Rob Edwards’ Middlesbrough to PO4.

In the other chunk of Championship fixtures last night, Middlesbrough were held to a nil-nil draw against Mark Robins’ Stoke City at the Riverside.

Reading’s Matt Ritchie stole the headlines for the Blues against Boro last season, when his brace cancelled out Emmanuel Latte Lath’s opening goal, in a 2-1 for Pompey back in January.

 

Portsmouth: 26. Bursik (GK), 2. Williams (24. Devlin), 5. Poole, 4. Knight, 3. Ogilvie, 

7. Pack (C), 21. Dozzell, 8. Swift, 47. Min-hyeok (29. Blair), 36. Chaplin, (10. Segečić)

9. Bishop (Formation: 4-2-3-1)

Unused subs: 30. Killip (GK), 11. Bianchini, 14. Matthews, 16. Le Roux, 18. Kosznovszky, 22. Swanson

Goals: Min-hyeok 5’, Segečić 79’

Bookings: Min-hyeok 14’, Pack 90+6’

Head coach: John Mousinho

 

Watford: 1. Selvik, 3. Alleyne, 6. Pollock, 25. Abankwah (27. F. Mendy), 29. Petris, 5. Kyprianou (23. N. Mendy), 17. Sissoko (34. Baah), 10. Louza (C), 26. Wiley (2. Ngakia), 18. Semedo, 66. Irankunda (11. Vata) (Formation: 3-5-2)

Unused subs: 12. Baxter (GK), 9. Kjerrumgaard, 16. Bola, 39. Kayembe

Goals: Louza 46’, Vata 56’

Bookings: Alleyne 2’, Petris 43’, Louza 77’, Selvik 77’, Pollock 89’

Manager: Paulo Pezzolano

 

Referee: Ben Toner

Venue: Fratton Park

Attendance: 19,646 (including 1,243 Watford fans)

 

Tonight's Pompey Live: Extra-Time podcast, featuring Jake Smith, Kirsty Roxanne and James Wilson, is now available to download and listen back to!

 

Be sure to join Jake Smith on Friday (October 3rd) for the next instalment of The Football Hour on Express FM, on which he and his panel of Pompey guests will provide more reaction to this midweek stalemate before looking ahead to Saturday's visit of Middlesbrough to PO4.

Comments

Add a comment

Log in to the club or enter your details below.
Weather in Portsmouth
Saturday Light rain shower High 15°C   Low 10°C
Sunday Sunny intervals High 16°C   Low 12°C

Coming Up

  • Chas Byrne's Rock Show

    9:00pm - 11:00pm

    The latest and greatest in rock music - together with news, gossip and interviews.

  • Does It Djent with Lily Rose

    11:00pm - 1:00am

    Lily Rose cranks up the volume with progressive, groove, avant-garde and industrial metal. Does It Djent? Most of it will, but some of it won’t!

Recently Played

Listen to Express FM