League 1 > Sat 19th January

[Aidymac]

[TABLE=class: couponTable, width: 617]

[TR] [TH=class: firstColumn]Saturday 19 January 2013[/TH] [TH]Home[/TH] [TH]Draw[/TH] [TH]Away[/TH] [TH=class: bppWidth]BPP[/TH] [/TR] [TR=class: row0, bgcolor: #F0F0F0] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn]Brentford v Tranmere Rovers (15:00 GMT)[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]2.1[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3.25[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3.3[/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp, align: center]108.69 %[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [/TR] [TR=class: row1] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn]Bury v Stevenage (15:00 GMT)[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]2.62[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3.25[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]2.5[/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp, align: center]108.86 %[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [/TR] [TR=class: row0, bgcolor: #F0F0F0] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn]Coventry City v Oldham Athletic (15:00 GMT)[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]1.8[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3.4[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]4.2[/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp, align: center]108.78 %[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [/TR] [TR=class: row1] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn]Crawley Town v Carlisle United (15:00 GMT)[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]1.83[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3.5[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]4[/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp, align: center]108.12 %[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [/TR] [TR=class: row0, bgcolor: #F0F0F0] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn]Crewe Alexandra v Milton Keynes Dons (15:00 GMT)[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]2.62[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3.25[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]2.5[/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp, align: center]108.86 %[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [/TR] [TR=class: row1] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn]Doncaster Rovers v Leyton Orient (15:00 GMT)[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]1.7[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3.5[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]4.8[/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp, align: center]108.23 %[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [/TR] [TR=class: row0, bgcolor: #F0F0F0] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn]Hartlepool United v Colchester United (15:00 GMT)[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]2.3[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3.25[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]2.9[/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp, align: center]108.73 %[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [/TR] [TR=class: row1] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn]Notts County v Sheffield United (15:00 GMT)[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]2.8[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3.3[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]2.37[/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp, align: center]108.12 %[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [/TR] [TR=class: row0, bgcolor: #F0F0F0] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn]Scunthorpe United v Portsmouth (15:00 GMT)[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]1.83[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3.5[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]4[/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp, align: center]108.12 %[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [/TR] [TR=class: row1] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn]Swindon Town v Shrewsbury Town (15:00 GMT)[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]1.53[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3.75[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]6[/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp, align: center]108.55 %[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [/TR] [TR=class: row0, bgcolor: #F0F0F0] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn]Walsall v AFC Bournemouth (15:00 GMT)[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3.25[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]2.25[/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp, align: center]108.55 %[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [/TR] [TR=class: row1] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn]Yeovil Town v Preston North End (15:00 GMT)[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]2.25[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3.25[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]3[/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp, align: center]108.55 %[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

[Jase82]

It looks like only two firms have priced us up away to Scunthorpe. Skybet and Boylesports. The rest are probably waiting to see what happens with our squad over this coming week. To recap, the following players are due to be released on Tuesday and Wednesday. Left fullback, Jon Harley. Right fullback, Mustapha Dumbuya. Central Defender, Lubomir Michalik. Central Midfielder, Brian Howard. Central Midfielder, Lee Williamson. Striker Paul Benson's loan ends on Wednesday after he was recalled by Swindon. To be fair I think the regular players that have been there for a few months. Like Williamson, Harley, Howard, Dumbuya, and Michalik had probably been promised the world by men involved hat were unable to make big promises. I don't think anyone expected our ownership issues to still be unresolved going into January, a crucial month for any club. Even more so for a club in our predicament. So where does that leave us? Goalkeeper - Simon Eastwood, made a handful of league appearance for Bradford, and Huddersfield. But earned a reputation playing non league football last season for Halifax Town before being released and earning a contract with Portsmouth. The only senior professional player left on our books from our pre season training camp in Gibraltar. Played a handful of games for us this season. Goalkeeper - Phil Smith, 32 year old ex Swindon keeper. Spent 6 years wrestling with the number one jersey there before being released in the summer. Hasn't played in over six months and is yet to make his debut for Portsmouth. Central Defender - Gabor Gyepes, 31 year old Hungarian defender. Made around 80 appearances for Cardiff, Wolves, and Northampton over 7 years. Central defender - Ricardo Rocha, now 34, loved by fans at the club. Spent 6 months in Portugal after being released by us at the end of last season. Must have taken a huge pay cut to come back. Current Vice Captain. Left Fullback - Dan Butler, 18 year old academy prospect. Made around 8 appearances for non league Havant & Waterlooville. Earned rave reviews, quickly making Lee Bradbury sit up and take notice. Yet to make his professional debut for Portsmouth. Recalled early from his loan contract at Havant & Waterlooville due to player shortage. Right Fullback - Adam Webster, Another 18 year old academy prospect. Fairly local lad having been born in West Wittering. Made his professional debut last season. Made 13 appearances so far this season. Utility man - Johannes Ertl, 30 year old Austrian. Current club captain. Pretty versatile, can play in defence or midfield. Made 80 appearance for Palace and Sheffield United over 4 years after initially signing from Austria Wien. Midfielder - Darel Russell, 32 year old midfielder. Probably our most important player, having won the League One title with Norwich in 2010. Very experienced at this level having made almost 500 appearances for Norwich, Stoke, Preston and Charlton spanning a 15 year career. Midfielder - Liam Walker. 23 year old wide man. Spotted while playing against Pompey in pre season tour of Gibralter. No league experience. Midfielder - Jed Wallace, 18 year old academy prospect fast tracked for first team football. Earned rave reviews playing on loan for non league Whitehawk this season where he scored 8 goals in 11 appearances. Made his debut this season and has played twice. Forward - Ashley Harris, another local lad, having been born in Waterlooville. 18 year old Academy prospect. Made his debut last season in the Championship. Has made 22 appearances so far, scoring just twice. Forward - David Connolly, another experienced pro on our books. 35 year old Irishman. Played 400 odd games in a career spanning 15 years. Played at various levels for Watford, Wolves, Feyenoord, Wimbledon, Excelsior, West Ham, Leicester, Wigan, Sunderland, and Southampton. Hadn't played competitive football since March 2012 before signing with us. Ex Ireland international. Forward - James Keene, 27 year old striker. Previously on our books but failed to make the grade during the period where we reached the Premier League. Sold to Elfsborg in Sweden after successful loan spell playing for GAIS. Currently on loan for a month. Made over 100 appearances for Elfsborg and Djurgardens in Sweden, and Fredrikstad in Norway. I make that 13 current professional footballers on our books. With 4 of them extremely inexperienced teenagers. We do have three players - defender Alex Grant, midfielder, George Colson, and forward, Dan Thompson. Dan Thompson, and George Colson are on loan at non league Dorchester, while Alex Grant is on loan at non league Eastleigh. Their loan deals are due to end next week, so it wouldn't surprise me to see them added to the first team squad. Four academy prospects that aren't yet ready for first team football, and are even further behind the aforementioned players are defenders Jack Whatmough and Elliott Wheeler, forward Jack Maloney, and midfielder Bradley Tarbuck. These are all players that were previously called upon to play against Plymouth in the Carling cup back in August. It should be noted that we put in a pretty decent shift that day, only succumbing late on. So while there can be no question marks over the commitment or effort of any player asked to put on the blue jersey, it remains to be seen how many if any at all are ready for League One football. League One may be too much of an ask for players that are used to youth football, and the odd loan stay with semi pro clubs. Our academy has been known to churn out a smattering of talent, the most noteworthy being Gary O'Neill and Matt Ritchie (a player I rate very highly as someone I can see leading Swindon into the Premier League). It is understandably dubious however, just how much strain can be placed upon a Portsmouth youth academy already suffering the after effects of successive relegations and budget cuts courtesy of our prolonged stay in administration. The recent u-turn shown by our administrators in staving off the closure of certain grades of the youth section is proof enough that we will at some point turn to home grown talent to pull us through the dark days. The trouble is all this is happening too quickly, and when things are forced quickly it can have a detrimental effect to the long term goals. Michael Appleton was very clear in saying that the majority of our youth were no where near ready for professional football at this level. We should be clear in highlighting the word, 'ready'. These players may have the ability, but first team football thrust upon a player at a young age may break a player. Then there's the management duo of Andy Awford and Guy Whittingham. Both are absolute Pompey legends, having been involved in different areas of the club for over 20 years. Andy Awford came from non league football in 89 and played over 300 games for us in a career spanning 11 years. Guy Wittingham bought himself out of the army to sign for us in 89, only to be sold on in 93 to Villa. He came back to us in 2000, and has always had spells in different roles at the club since hanging up his boots. It is a sad case where this management duo could only be considered due to financial constraints. I have no doubt that neither would be given the role on a permanent basis if it weren't for our administration woes. And as well, neither have much experience of management at league level. Skybet have priced us up at 3.60 away to Scunthorpe on Saturday, and whilst they're not the best League One side currently, (having won only four times at home in the last twenty-five outings) you'd have to think they'd fancy their chances given our current predicament. This will be a huge relegation encounter, and if all things were equal I'd say Skybet are pretty spot on. But we know they're not. We are seriously lacking in key areas and have nothing to offer out wide, save a 23 year old we picked up playing in Gibraltar. I think given recent developments I'd happily lay Portsmouth @ 3.60 if it were offered. It's anyone's guess what sort of side we are able to put out on Saturday, but I'd expect our odds to rise once it becomes clear we have very little to work with and will only be bringing in players that can play for a reduced salary. It wouldn't surprise me to see a few of the youngsters start on Saturday. Dan Butler at left back should play if we haven't signed anyone more experienced. Adam Webster, and Ashley Harris are sure to earn starts. Midfield will probably see Johannes Ertl and Daryl Russell fit in, with Liam Walker on the wing. Jed Wallace could play somewhere in midfield. David Connolly and James Keene will more than likely lead the line. But you see, this is getting rather like picking anyone that fits, and whomever is available. There's too many changes and uncertainties to think we can get anything away from home against anyone. You could argue the players coming in will be motivated and fighting to stave off relegation, but you could also argue the same of Scunthorpe. We are still officially looking for new signings that fit into our budget (which is now that of an average league Two club), so we'll see if we can bring anyone in by next Saturday. As an example, only Liam Walker (a player intended purely as a squad player) survives from the team that took to the field away to Colchester in a 2-2 draw back in August. That team had a fair amount of quality in it. I see evens for Scunthorpe as a fair bet, or to be exact, the 1.90 on offer at the minute with Skybet and Boylesports.

[swindonfan]

Re: League 1 > Sat 19th January Great write up there Jase. Game is priced up by all bookmakers now. What about Steve Claridge whats he up to these days? Sure he wouldnt mind turning out for you. Got a feeling this time it could be messy. Pompeys situation reminds me a lot of ketterings last season. They dug in bravely for a few weeks. Then you could see it slowly slipping away and then once the meltdown begun it just went into freefall.:cry

[Jase82]

Claridge was playing for Gosport... That would be a turn up if he came back to us.... :loon If you got on at the 1.9 on offer you had a great bet, now I don't see too much value, and maybe it might be worth backing a draw at HT / Scunthorpe win at FT sort of bet. Or just lay them @ 1.7 to back them when their price goes back up again in play. I'd expect the game to pan out similarly to the game against Plymouth. We'll probably hold our own for 45 minutes and then defensive errors will creep in.

[Jase82]

The case to decide our ownership issues has been adjourned until the 31st January. It looks like the PST will buy Fratton Park outright as there were issues surrounding a third party who was offering to buy the ground and lease it back to the trust. Our current predicament has hit our search for players as Guy Whittingham has admitted one player lined up got cold feet as players left the club this week. I suspect we may sign up to two players by Saturday, if that. But that's about 35% likely to come off IMO.

[Jase82]

Pompey have signed 18 year old midfielder, Frankie Sutherland. On loan for a month from Q.P.R. I think this is his first loan outing. That takes our playing squad up to 14.

[RIOT88]

Re: League 1 > Sat 19th January Coventry City - Tranmere Rovers Tranmere +0.25 2.025 bet 365 Covetry have played many games in last days: win 3-2 over Preston with late drama in last thursday, lose from Carlisle in sunday and now they are playing with one of the top teams in League 1. Thier good form (8 games without defeat) is ended with back to back loses in league. Tranmere are searching for their 5 consecutive league win and thier good away form this season is good precondition for 3 points. For more plucky guys there are good odds for away win: 3.25 bet 365. GL.

[swindonfan]

Re: League 1 > Sat 19th January Swindon game is rated 50/50 due to the weather.

[RedSaddler92]

Re: League 1 > Sat 19th January I wont be writing a huge preview this week due to the fact that I'd imagine 90% of games at least will be called off due to safety reasons, frozen pitches, or heavy snow. I will return next week however. Apologies.

[RIOT88]

Re: League 1 > Sat 19th January Someone who knows why odds for Tranmere are going up? Are there any reasons?

[stressina87]

Re: League 1 > Sat 19th January [TABLE=class: dtable]

[TR] [TD]SWINDON TOWN[/TD] [TD=class: lp]-[/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD]SHREWSBURY HW?[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

[Jase82]

Pompey look set to sign versatile defender Sam Sodje on a free for a month. Hasn't played since February 2012, and was released by Notts County at the end of last season after making 19 appearances. That takes are playing contingent up to 15. There is a 9.30am pitch inspection at Glanford Park, so our game may yet be called off.

[RedDevil92]

Re: League 1 > Sat 19th January Hartlepool-Colchester is off also Bury-Stevenage, Crawley-Carlisle and Schunthorpe-Portsmouth seem to be off

[Jase82]

Yep, Scunthorpe V Portsmouth is off... The pitch has been covered all night, but heavy snow is still forecasted all day...

[RedDevil92]

Re: League 1 > Sat 19th January Crewe-Milton is also off

[swindonfan]

Re: League 1 > Sat 19th January The lads at swindon say the pitch will be playable and the council are gritting the areas/roads around the ground so they should be safe. The problem might be if the shrewsbury team decide to bottle it given our great home form at the moment and pretend that the roads are to dangerous to travel.

[Al_Shrew]

The roads in Shropshire are always dangerous to travel on !!

[Jase82]

Pompey also set to sign 21 year old midfielder, Adam Reed on loan for a month from Sunderland. Signed professional terms with Sunderland in 2009. Since then he's had spells on loan with Brebtford, Bradford, and Leyton Orient. That takes our squad to 16.

[MPLouis]

Re: League 1 > Sat 19th January Walsall v Bournemouth Bournemouth have been in good form recently, but so have Walsall. I think the home team is too long here at 3.4 Walsall unbeaten last 5 home games Bournemouth unbeaten last 5 away league games Walsall +0.5 1.64 Pinnacle

[Johnmccain]

Re: League 1 > Sat 19th January Notts County vs Sheff Utd Sheffield United's home form has been woeful recently with us losing to Hartlepool and Yeovil. Not only were we beaten but well-beaten as well. Especially regarding Yeovil. My personal view has been that the players have not coped well having to play on the awful pitch at Bramall Lane, which has meant we cannot play our possession-game that allows us to slowly break teams down. This definitely put a downer on the team and we are a side who are worryingly incapable of devising a Plan B when things aren't going well on the pitch. However, I'd see the Blades certainly not losing here at Meadow Lane. County have a poor home record and there seems to be a deal of unrest there with fans unhappy with things under Keith Curle. With neither side a form team this could be one to stay away from. However, United have a good record at County and, in terms of quality, have a superior squad. We won 4 - 1 there last season and have already beaten them there 3 - 1 this season in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. We drew with them 1 - 1 at home but outplayed them completely. I wouldn't trust this game as a single, but would be happy to put United on an accumulator.

[MPLouis]

Re: League 1 > Sat 19th January

Walsall v Bournemouth Bournemouth have been in good form recently, but so have Walsall. I think the home team is too long here at 3.4 Walsall unbeaten last 5 home games Bournemouth unbeaten last 5 away league games Walsall +0.5 1.64 Pinnacle

FT: 3-1 Bet won :ok