Report by Ben Davis

Pompey kicked off their Coca Cola Cup campaign with a highly eventful match at Peterborough's London Road ground. Four goals, a missed penalty and a massive 20-man brawl certainly gave the crowd it's money worth.
Terry Fenwick was deeply concerned over the loss of weight some of the players suffered during the Man City game. The Jamaican duo of Hall and Simpson were rested while Svensson and Knight were out injured with a dead leg and calf strain respectively. With Knight out it meant Aaron Flahavan had the chance to show he'd got over last seasons errors and is ready to step into the big time again.
It took Pompey eight minutes to take control as they took the lead. McLoughlin crossed in a corner to the far post where Thomson nodded it back and Thorp managed to squeeze a header past the man on the line and keeper Tyler. Yet the lead was short lived when the home side equalised. Pompey were caught down the left as Lewis raced through and put in a dangerous, skidding, cross which Awford nudged into his own net.
Ten minutes later the first nasty moment of the match arrived when, the unlucky, Awford was caught in the throat by De Souza. Pompey's centre back fell to the ground awkwardly although early fears aren't so bad as it is thought he shouldn't be out for too long.
Suddenly Peterborough were forced to make a substitution as Durnin went very dangerously in on Bodley's knee and the Posh defender had to be stretched off. It is thought he'll be out for three months, but Durnin feels he isn't to blame.
In the 26th minute Pompey regained the lead and once again it was from a set play. This time Pompey won a free-kick out on the right which McLoughlin floated in. Aloisi got his head to it at the far post and it fell on the edge of the area to Hillier to fired it low into the bottom right hand corner of the net.
Three minutes after the re-start Pompey had a great opportunity to go three-one up when Edwards handled Thorp's knock down from Thomson's cross in the area. The referee gave a penalty which meant McLoughlin had the chance to continue his impressive record from the spot, but it came to an end as Tyler pushed the kick away well to keep his side in the match.
Flahavan then made a fine save when he finger tipped veteran Jimmy Quinn's header over the bar at full stretch. Peterborough though were playing a lot better as Barry Fry's men picked up the tempo.
The game then really boiled over as Thorp's collision with Tyler sparked off a huge free-for-all involving all of the players except keeper Flahavan and Pethick, who had come on as sub for Awford. After referee Frazer Stretton had calmed things down he went over to his assistant and the result was that Peterborough's Scott Houghton and Pompey's Dave Waterman were sent off.
Pompey midfielder Hillier though thought that Waterman wasn't involved while Houghton has admitted he was in the wrong by throwing a punch. Fenwick is looking at the match in tape to decided what action he will take.
Some slack defending five minutes from time allowed Peterborough to get a second equaliser. The Pompey defenders backed off giving Castle plenty of time to get in a shot from the edge of the area which came back off a post leaving Carruthers an open goal.
The second leg shouldn't be too hard for Pompey although Fry's men will certainly give another competitive performance. For Pompey their concentration is now directed towards their first home game of the season against Port Vale.