Portsmouth v Leeds United

Saturday 9th March 2025 - Fratton Park

2024/25 Season

Having just arrived home after a 17 hour round trip, despite all the traffic issues that meant detours, we had a good run both there and back. Starting from home at 3.30am in freezing conditions to ending up in glorious sunshine at the ground it was a perfect day for a football game. Even though it was a long day for us northern based fans, it was short 15–20-minute journey for many of our southern based fans, especially the Hampshire Whites. They have the long journey to do for every home game at Elland Road so I don’t feel I can complain when the boot is on the other foot. I’d no idea Portsmouth were near the bottom of the table as I only concentrate on Leeds, but they wanted to win the game more than we did. Although we did have our share of chances, if our last-minute chance had gone in instead of their keeper making a great save, I would have taken the point, but it would have been a get out of jail card. It’s what it is, and we move on to a big week of football with our home game against Millwall on Wednesday then away at QPR on Saturday. I’ve no idea what will transpire but it all depends how we are set up in my opinion. Today it felt like we had got our tactics wrong and were looking defensive in the first half. Before they scored their goal, I wanted to see changes because I could see what was coming. For those blaming Meslier for their goal, I don’t agree. Our defenders were level with their player after we got caught out with their speed and could have stopped him before he got into our penalty area. Instead, we slackened off so that he got in front of our defence and scored. To be honest, it looked like half of the team had been up all night travelling not us!

Team: Struijk, Rodon, Bogle, Firpo, Aaronson, Piroe, James, Solomon, Gruev, Tanaka, Solomon.

Subs: Joseph for Aaronson (68), Ramazani for Solomon (68), Rothwell for Tanaka (68), Byram for Bogle (79), Gnonto for Gruev (79).

Subs not used:  Darlow, Guilavogui, Schmidt, Debayo.

Leeds lost the game 1-0.

Attendance:   20,314, 2,171 Leeds fans.

Referee:  Rob Jones.

Booked:  None from Leeds.

The first half felt very poor from our perspective although things may have been different if we’d have been awarded a penalty in the 10th minute when James was brought down in the penalty area. He had hit the ball only for the Portsmouth player to kick him halfway up the calf from behind. The referee had a clear view of it but decided to ignore the challenge. As he’s supposedly a premier league referee, maybe he needed VAR to make a decision for him. We had another chance when their keeper made a double save firstly from Solomon and then the rebound from Piroe. How their player ended up without a booking for a late challenge on Meslier I don’t know. Portsmouth got into the game more and were very quick on the break, but we looked to be containing them. We started to play more defensively, and it didn’t make for good watching from our point of view as it was very poor before the break.

The second half saw Leeds start off with a great attack from the defence when Bogle sent a fantastic ball up the wing for James to run onto. He sent a great pass to Solomon on the opposite wing, but he couldn’t hit a first time shot. He took the ball past the keeper, passed to Piroe in front of goal who hit the ball over the bar. That was a good chance and should have been buried. That miss was going to come back to haunt us very quickly as it emboldened Portsmouth who made a sub. I shouted to Farke that he needed to change things as I could see what was going to happen only nothing was done about it. With that Portsmouth sent a great ball over our defence, and as Rodon and Struijk were level with their player, I expected them to close the player down and win the ball. As it was, we slowed down and their player ran forward with pace, hit the ball as Meslier came forward only to see it hitting the far post and rebounding back into the goal. They could have got a second goal not long afterwards as they hit a long range shot but Meslier made a fantastic save to keep them out. They also had another shot that hit the outside of the post then went wide. We should have got back into the game as Leeds attacked towards the Leeds fans behind the goal. Firpo did a one two with Ramazani and although the ball was short, Firpo kept running and took the ball with him. He got into the penalty area past their defence and ready to shoot but then, shot against the keeper’s legs and the ball cleared. Firpo then saw his header hit the bar with James getting to the rebound, but the ball went wide. Our last chance saw Rothwell send a corner into the middle and Byram’s header brought a great save out of their keeper. He was definitely their man of the match.

The last couple of days had already sent me into a downward spiral so I just accepted we had lost the game. For those who followed my husband’s cancer journey until he died, may remember my baby granddaughter being hospitalised four times during the last year with urinary sepsis. After further tests, it looks like they have found the cause of this, but we will know more when we see the consultant shortly. It is possible she faces surgery and although I was okay after we came away from the hospital, the next two days got the tears flowing again. It is coming up to the birthday of my baby daughter who died, and it brought things back to me. The anniversary of Charlotte’s death is the same day that we are remembering Chris and Kev who were murdered in Istanbul. I will be attending their remembrance evening but if the last two days are anything to go by, there will be a lot of tears shed.

Whilst we have lost a game of football today for the first time since November, it is hard for some to deal with but, it isn’t over yet and we are not yet down and out. Hopefully that won’t come back to bite me!

See you on Wednesday, LUFC – Marching on Together!