There was a downbeat vibe from the Fratton Park crowd tonight, probably most of them had read the latest financial revelations in "The News". Many of us were surprised to see Robbie Pethick in the starting line up wearing Jeff Peron's number 8 shirt. It meant Alan Ball wanted Pompey to revert back to his favoured 5-3-2 formation, and I couldn't argue with that after watching us trying to play 4-4-2 on Saturday. OK we won that game but it wasn't pretty to watch.
As we kicked off it was looking more like a 3-3-4 formation with both of our wing backs pushed up to the half way line. The positive approach looked likely to pay dividends. Within the first two minutes we had already created two chances. The first fell to live wire Martin "Buster" Phillips whose shot was blocked and the second to John Aloisi who shot wide from outside the box.
Bradford survived Pompey's early onslaught and created a chance of their own in the 5th minute. Isaiah Rankin left Pompey's 3 central defenders for dead before shooting low to Alan Knight's left. "The Legend" got his hand to the shot but couldn't hold it and Bradford's top scorer, Lee Mills, nearly scored from the rebound, but somehow Knight recovered to produce a superb reaction save.
It was still mostly Pompey at this point. Phillips and Thomas Thogersen combined well in the 8th minute to set up a chance for Aloisi. The big Aussie, must have been feeling nervous with his dad watching, and instead being single minded or greedy or showing a strikers instinct instead he tried to pass to Steve Claridge. The problem was the pass was behind his strike partner and the chance went begging.
The turning point in the game was the injury to Alan McLoughlin after 10 minutes. I suspect he's suffering from a groin strain so the bad news is he could be out for a while. Macca got taken off on a stretcher, and he came back on a couple of minutes later. The Republic of Ireland did his best to play on, but he could hardly walk let alone play football so Pompey had no choice but to bring him off. Michalis Vlachos came on in Macca's place and seemed to struggle to adjust to pace of the game. To be fair, it was difficult to come on at this point as Bradford had taken the match by the scruff of the neck.
Peter Beagrie had weaved through the Pompey defence before shooting powerfully wide in the 10th minute, and it was becoming clear the visitor's were proving potent as an attacking force. All the while Pompey looked in dire need of some Viagra upfront of their own, but in truth the battle had been lost in midfield. Gareth Whalley put the visitor's ahead in the 21st minute following up Rankin's shot which was parried by Knight.
Our defence was falling apart at the seams. Two minutes after the goal, Pethick misjudged a high ball and Rankin almost took advantage of the error, but fortunately for us the ex-Arsenal man shot wide. Three minutes later a surprised Pethick was withdrawn. I felt he was being made a scapegoat, the crowd had been on his back and it's easy to blame one player for a poor team performance. Anyway, he might have been taken off purely for tactical reasons as with John Durnin on in Pethick's place Pompey switched to 4-4-2.
The crowd were happy to see Johnny Lager on and the switch to 4-4-2 but really things were turning from bad to worse. Robbie Blake was causing us some problems down our left flank and putting in some useful crosses. It seemed only a matter of time until Bradford added to their lead. After 31 minutes it happened. Whalley played a brilliant low ball to Rankin's feet who turned and shot past a helpless Knight.
A minute later it was game over. Andy Thomson tried to pass back to Knight but his ball was hopelessly short. City's top scorer, Lee Mills was on to it in a flash and he rounded Knight to put the Bantams 3-0 up. Thomson held his head in his hands and Pompey looked dead and buried.
Blake almost scored a couple more goals for Bradford but Knight was alert to the danger and pulled off a couple of good saves. In first half injury time, Aloisi finally tested Gary Walsh in the City goal. The big Aussie's low left foot drive was well saved by the ex-Man Utd keeper.
Early on in the second half we still hadn't snapped out of our daze. We just couldn't cope with Rankin. Thomson had to foul him to stop him and ended up getting booked. In the 52nd minute, Beagrie chested to Rankin but his powerful volley was brilliantly saved by Knight. The way Rankin was carving us up was not unlike Maradona against England in the 1986 World Cup and the similarity doesn't end there...Rankin even tried his own version of the "Hand of God"...only it didn't go in and the ref spotted it anyway.
Our only answer to Rankin was Phillips. In the 12th minute he won us a corner but the set piece was wasted. A minute later, we were back in the game. Steve Claridge showed superb composure in the box to pick out Aloisi who scored with a powerful low drive to the keeper's left.
With half an hour left, Durnin got himself booked for the second game running. Once again there was no argument with the decision as it was an awful foul on Rankin. The crowd were pleased as they realised we'd have to crock Rankin to stop him.
5 minutes later, Sammy Igoe hit the stanchion after receiving a good pass from Phillips. Igoe came to life in the second half and what a difference it made. It was Igoe's low cross that threw the Bradford defence into chaos and Aloisi was there to prod home his second goal of the game.
Ten minutes from time Beagrie put the result beyond a doubt with a powerful low shot from outside the box. His celebratory somersault after the goal was executed just as perfectly.
Igoe nearly scored a minute later, but his toe poke was palmed wide by Walsh. Phillips was in the last action of the match, but his weak right foot shot was easily saved by Walsh.
It was a much better Pompey performance in the 2nd half, but in truth we were out classed. Bradford were very impressive in attack and our defenders played without their normal composure. We just wasn't good enough today, but once we get over our injury problems I'm sure we'll be able to match any side in this division.