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Oct. 1, Match 8
4-3-0, 3rd pl., 15 pts.
v. Portsmouth (3-1-3, 12th pl., 10 pts.)
Series: Posh lead 4-1-1
Fav: Posh, Evens
Out w/injury: Heitinga, Jesus, Mascherano, Vagner
We decide to give Grant the start today, just to be nice to the guy, who has been pretty patient.
Lineup:
GK: Grant
Def: Jensen, Svensson, Marcos, Sarr
Mid: Arzo, Fernandes, Gavilan, Kranjcar
Str: Balaban, Bellomo
1'- Portsmouth score off the opening kickoff, as the defense swings wide open for Yakubu down the middle, and he slots it home after just 25 seconds.
20'- Nice ball by Balaban to Fernandes, who is running alone on the left... he attacks the keeper, but shoots it right into his chest.
29'- Gavilan chases down an errant pass near the end line, and tries the crazy shot from there, but it's saved.
38'- Fernandes' 30 yard free kick deflects out for a corner kick.
Cole in for Balaban at the half... and Lunt on for an ineffective Fernandes.
64'- Cole with a great ball ahead to Bellomo... he gets behind the defense, but his shot is scooped over the bar.
68'- Lunt runs down the left, and gets a good cross in to Cole... but the header is off target.
Mokoena in for Jensen, and we switch to an aggressive attacking 3-4-3.
79'- Bellomo with a terrific 20 yard strike, that just misses the top right corner.
82'- Cole with a nice ball to the arc for Bellomo... he slides it ahead to Lunt, who shoots from 10 yards, but it's blocked away.
88'- Gavilan with a pass into space for Cole, who latches onto it, then attacks the keeper... he tries his patented slotted shot to the near post, but the keeper with a nice save again.
And we take an embarrassing loss at home. We dominate play throughout, but that early goal doomed us. I guess playing all the scrubs doesn't help either. I also think that Arzo's level of play at DM has something to do with it, as he just isn't up to snuff there. Gavilan gets our only 8. Grant, Fernandes, and Bellomo pick up 6's in this poor effort.
Loss, 0-1, drop to 5th place
Shots/on target: Posh 18/6, Pompey 2/2
Poss: 56-44, Posh
A: 18,639
EPL Round 8 results
Man U 1:0 Sheff Wed
Birmingham 0:0 Norwich
Cardiff 0:4 Boro
So'ton 2:2 Villa
Spurs 3:1 Blackburn
Newcastle 0:2 Arsenal
Palace 2:2 Man City
Chelsea 2:2 West Ham
Liverpool 3:1 WBA
We finish the weekend 7th on 15 points, but are just 3 points behind first place Tottenham. 2nd through 6th place are all on 17 points.
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