Vokes didnt play on Saturday because his wife/partner gave birth a day or so before the game. The noises are that he will be available for tomorrow. I respect what Wycombe achieved but they have a side to them that I dont like. They play quite a physical game but they also became very adept at the dark arts of diving, pressuring the referee and time wasting. We owe them one and I hope we make good on it tomorrow. It would put a marker down of we could thump Pompey and beat Wycombe in consecutive games. I agree about playing Ogbene from the off. I would also play Ferguson. REG and Miller have done nothing at all wrong, but we ask a lot of our wing backs and it feels right to freshen it upland give Ogbene and Ferguson starts. Harding's extra size and strength gets him the nod from me ahead of REG for this particular fixture as the right sided centre back. I'm also comfortable with Vickers playing if needed.

Barker says icky and Victor both passed fit but hinted that they wouldn't play anyone not 100% .

Good news nevertheless .

Wycombe actually DO play like everyone thinks we do, an awful but effective team to watch. Lots of effort & commitment but Wycombe allowed us very little space, defended really well, Stewart at CB was exceptional, final ball wasn't there but WE DIDNT LOSE.
Vickers looked calm & assured in goal, REG excellent again, Wiles was like a terrier in three positions, war of attrition tonight ending in stalemate, not overly unhappy with that, I could be a Pompey fan

Wycombe are good at what they do. They whinge, pressurise the officials, feign injury, waste time, and do whatever they can to slow the game down and generally get under everyone's skin. It is easy to get sucked into a bit of an arm wrestle with them and that is what happened tonight. They are also very well organised and have a sprinkling of decent players. They are horrible, and they are very good at being horrible. The game had no flow at all and a few of our lads seemed a bit off the pace. It is a decent point against a side that will have a good season, so not the end of the world. One to forget and move quickly on from.

Can't add much to what has been said, good point in a lot of ways...

But no-one has mentioned the Ref! He was woof, and I thought he added to Wycombe's game and didn't see much of what they did to us, but never missed a trick to punish us...

onwards - overall very happy with this squad - with the exception of my personal winge for the last 3 seasons that we should have properly replaced Mattock a long long time ago...

Special mention for Ben Wiles who is back to his best, MOM for me.

UTM

 

 

If I never see Wycombe again, it will be too early! I hear everything that has been said about them being effective and good at what they do, but for me they do football a disservice. Everything that is bad about the game can be found in spades under Ainsworth; timewasting, cynical fouls, diving, feigning serious injury, inciting clashes aimed at getting players sent off - all deliberate tactics to gain an advantage rather than attempting to beat the opposition through superior footballing skills. The irony is, they had some really decent footballers and their counter attacking ability in the first half was superb and looked more likely to deliver a goal than any other tactic by either team. I was pleased to hear the final whistle (about the only thing the pathetic ref got right all night) and I was satisfied with a point. I feel sorry for Wycombe fans, they have to watch that rubbish every week.

I think Wycombe did last night what they have been doing for a long time. It wasn't unexpected or shouldn't have been. Yes, they will timewaste, dive about,feign injury and commit cynical fouls. However, they were the away team coming to an in form side and gave their opponents little or no chances to score. I cannot remember their goalkeeper having a save to make of any meaning. Our goalkeeper had little to do as well. He either saved the free kick or it hit the post and that was the nearest anybody came to scoring all night.

The two centre backs of Wycombe, Stewart and Tafazolli gave Smith and Grigg nothing all night. Ladapo came on and added a bit of urgency and had a shot blocked. Rathbone trickled one to the goalkeeper and a six yard scramble which resulted in wood being penalised was as near as we got all night. In the first half McLeary was the best offensive player on the pitch and as somebody has already said their counter attacking looked decent. In the second half McCleary tired and we got the ball down and played more with Barlaser and Wiles putting in a good performance. The final killer ball was missing and they comfortably saw out the night to get a point.

Nobody had a bad game for us but nobody took control of the game for long enough periods either. Sad to see Mattock injured again but i think he should never have been put in this position. He can now only be a fringe player and certainly not first choice left sided defender. Whether McDonald will ever play again for us is unclear. It looks like Ihiekwe and Harding will fill the left side role from now on, a position that neither look comfortable with especially with diagonal balls and to players with pace, which is what M.K Dons have on Saturday. It is our achiles heel and might be the difference between top six or just outside it. One final comment. Somebody has said Ladapo didn't look bothered. Well, i think he did more in the third of the game he played than Grigg did in his two thirds of the game. I accept Smith and Grigg got very little service but sometimes you after offer more than what Grigg contributed last night which in my opinion was nothing.