City march on as Pompey look to the future

Posted Sunday, August 30, 2009 by PA

Emmanuel Adebayor scored his third goal in as many Barclays Premier League games to see off Portsmouth 1-0 as the man who helped bring Manchester City their millions watched from the stands at Fratton Park.

Sulaiman Al Fahim, who fronted the consortium that bought City a year ago, was sat in the crowd four days after it was announced an agreement had been made for him to buy Portsmouth from Alexandre Gaydamak.

City are certainly benefiting from their change of ownership - they only won two away games last season and have matched that total already in their 100% start to the season.

Mark Hughes' men are now in the top four - and Pompey fans will hope Al Fahim brings them a similar change of fortune after losing their first four league games of the campaign.

Al Fahim, the 32-year-old businessman was sporting a Pompey away shirt with his name printed on the back, and he was applauded by fans outside the ground.

Pompey chief executive Peter Storrie, after failing with a bid of his own, has been quoted suggesting Gaydamak was guilty of an "act of betrayal" for choosing Al Fahim. There was no mention of the takeover in Storrie's programme notes.

In the 12 months since their own takeover, City boss Hughes has packed his squad full of quality - Joleon Lescott made his league debut for the club here, while Robinho could only get on the bench.

Pompey, on the other hand, are not dreaming of galacticos yet. They bought Tommy Smith and Michael Brown to the club last week and the pair were given their first starts.

Brown clattered into tackles and Smith worked the flanks but Pompey boss Paul Hart may need more than a strong work-ethic to keep the club in the top flight.

David James was not included in the matchday squad, with the England goalkeeper carrying a recent knee injury but also heavily linked with a move away from Pompey as the team built by Harry Redknapp is dismantled.

Without a free-scoring full-back like Glen Johnson, Sylvain Distin at centre-back or Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe in attack, Pompey did not look like troubling a team like City.

Granted, striker Frederic Piquionne caused City problems with his running. The Frenchman chased a long ball from Aaron Mokoena and forced Shay Given into a rushed clearance, then he fired into the side netting when Brown passed beyond the visitors' defence.

But City were merely getting into their stride. Carlos Tevez fired just wide with a free-kick after Richard Hughes earned a yellow card for a foul on Stephen Ireland. Another set-piece caused confusion in Pompey's penalty area, with Asmir Begovic fumbling under pressure from Lescott then saving bravely at the feet of Micah Richards.

Adebayor's opener, on the half-hour mark, was a goal of simplicity. Gareth Barry's inswinging corner from the right found the former Arsenal striker, who escaped the attention of Mokoena and planted his header home from close range.

Richards had an effort chalked off for offside following a slick move that saw Tevez send Craig Bellamy down the flank with a reverse ball through Niko Kranjcar's legs.

Brown had the ball in the net for Pompey but Howard Webb had whistled for a handball as the midfielder charged down a clearance.

At the other end, Adebayor squeezed between Smith and Younes Kaboul with a neat turn to fool the Pompey pair, then his finish was saved by Begovic.

Richards suffered an injury just before the hour mark, with his left leg locking, and needed to be replaced by Pablo Zabaleta.

Kaboul and John Utaka were both off target with long-range efforts before the end.

David Nugent then came on and passed up a simple opportunity, bringing in the ball down in the six-yard area but scuffing his shot with just Given to beat.