Portsmouth 0-1 Aston Villa – Premiership Live Blog – 28 January 2009

Aston Villa can keep up their bid for the Premiership when they visit struggling Portsmouth tonight. You can follow all the action here at Daily Soccer Blog at kick off but in the meantime please feel free to leave any comments or predictions below.

Match Preview

Both managers could throw new players into the mix this evening, with Emile Heskey set to make his Aston Villa debut following a £3.5 million switch from Wigan Athletic, while Hayden Mullins could start for Portsmouth after moving from West Ham United.

It is Aston Villa who are in the better form, they sit fourth in the Premiership and are just three points behind leaders Manchester United.  Villa are looking for a fourth straight league win, while Portsmouth hover just three points above the relegation zone. Under new manager Tony Adams they are struggling, winning just twice in 13 league matches and have taken just two points from the last available 18.

Portsmouth could be without the creative Niko Krancjar while Ashley Young serves the second of his three match ban for Villa. Luke Young is once again available for selection for Martin O’Neill after completing his one match ban.

Line Ups

Portsmouth: James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Pennant, Davis, Mullins, Belhadj, Crouch, Kanu.
Subs: Begovic, Nugent, Kaboul, Pamarot, Utaka, Mvuemba, Armand Traore.

Aston Villa: Friedel, Cuellar, Knight, Davies, Luke Young, Gardner, Petrov, Barry, Milner, Agbonlahor, Heskey.
Subs: Guzan, Sidwell, Harewood, Delfouneso, Salifou, Shorey, Osbourne.

Goals

Aston Villa: Heskey (21′)

Live Blog

90+3′ The hard-working Mullins has Portsmouth’s last chance of an equaliser but his effort from 20 yards rolls out tamely for a goal kick and the referee blows the final whistle.

90+1′ Portsmouth are pressing for an equaliser but cannot get a quality ball into the box. Pennant, Kaboul and Crouch all try but fail.

90′ Villa look like they are going to return to the Midlands with maximum points. The fourth official announces three minutes of added time.

87′ John Utaka’s daily intake of cod liver oil pays off as he races past Petrov and finds himself into the box. Instead of shooting when he had the chance he tried to take an extra touch, allowing Friedel to collect the ball easily.

86′ Milner adds his name to the referees notebook after a clumsy tackle brought down Pennant. Glen Johnson tries an ambitious volley from 20 yards but it sails way over Friedel’s goal.

84′ The stats show Portsmouth have had 14 attempts on goal and nine on target, but it’s Villa who are winning with their solitary effort on target.

82′ An ironic cheer goes up after the assistant acknowledges an offside decision after Barry attempted to play through Milner. Heskey’s had enough for one evening and is substituted after a goal scoring debut. He is replaced by Shorey, who as his name suggests, attempts to shore up the Villa team with Martin O’Neill seemingly happy with a one goal lead.

79′ Petrov gets a yellow card after a diving tackle on the lively Pennant just seconds after Sidwell was played through but looked a mile offside. Not for the first time this evening Villa look to be getting favourable decisions from the assistant.

77′ Portsmouth are turning the screw despite being a man light. Pennant plays Utaka into the box but Davies tackles him to give Pompey corner number 17 of the evening.

75′ Utaka shows great acceleration for an old man, waiting in the box for the ball to bounce in front of him but his effort his blocked for a corner.

74′ Kanu is replaced by John Utaka. Kanu is allegedly 32 and Utaka is 27. I’m not convinced by either of their youthful claims. Curtis Davies heads over from a corner.

70′ Belhadj has a tantrum over which team had won a throw in. In all fairness, it was Pompey’s ball but the hot-headed Algerian gets a red card for his troubles. Some purists would argue he should have gone in the first half for the foul on Gardner.

68′ Portsmouth rack up the corners – they now have 14 but are not doing anything with them. Hreidarsson wastes the latest one by heading it harmlessly over the bar.

66′ Kanu takes the easy option from a long throw by David James and allows Cuellar to foul him. Well, I say foul, there was hardly any contact. Hreidarsson sends the ball in but Davies heads it behind for a corner.

64′ Milner sends in a cross but centre back Distin does what he has done all night, headed it away to safety.

62′ Portsmouth revert to doing what they do best, smashing the ball high and wide from distance. Sean Davis has a go this time and gets a corner for his troubles. Peter Crouch head’s it wide.

60′ Pennant’s enthusiasm in this game is great to see but his momentum takes him into the penalty area and he is bowled over despite not having the ball. There are some half-hearted appeals for a penalty, but only from the home supporters… and the optimistic Tony Adams.

58′ Peter Crouch wastes a gilt-edged chance to equalise. Pennant drags the ball across the face of goal but Crouch just stabs a foot at it from six yards out and sees it go over the bar. How on earth do some of these players transfer for so much money?

57′ Kanu chests the ball down beautifully for Belhadj who strikes the ball wide from just outside the box. Another decent chance goes to waste for Pompey.

54′ A counter attack from Aston Villa peters out to nothing but that is the danger for Portsmouth. They have played a lot better in the early stages of this half but you feel they could just as easily lose it as they could equalise. Distin then has to cut out an Agbonlahor cross into the box.

51′ A spell of Portsmouth pressure results in a corner – their eighth of the game. It curls in but is cleared behind by Milner who was alert on the near post because Friedel certainly wasn’t.

48′ Gardner is felled by Mullins, Barry sends the free kick into the Pompey box but it’s headed away by Distin. The counter sees Pennant smashing the ball fiercly from inside the box but Friedel palms it away comfortably.

46′ Portsmouth almost start the second half with 10 men because Sol Campbell’s replacement, Younes Kaboul, is late coming onto the pitch. He’s not exactly a favourite at Fratton Park at the best of times. Pennant has an early chance, drilling the ball low from inside the box but it’s easily saved by Friedel.

Half Time. Villa have been worth their lead and Emile Heskey, who scored just three times in 21 appearances for Wigan this season, made it one from one midway through the first half. Portsmouth resorted to lumping the ball forward for much of the half with absolutely no effect, despite Belhadj and Pennant looking decent when given the chance to play. Pompey had a couple of half chances, mainly from distance but Villa should have put this match to bed when Agbonlahor put an easy chance wide five minutes before the break.

45′ Chance for Portsmouth. Cuellar fails to deal with a high ball into the box and the freshly booked Belhadj volleys it high and wide.

44′ First booking of the game goes to Belhadj, who lost out to Gardner and just hacked him down from behind. At what point does a player think they are not going to get a yellow card, or worse, by doing this?

43′ Villa are finishing the half strongly. Campbell shut out a Heskey-bound cross from Agbonlahor and Pompey had to clear a ball into the box from Luke Young seconds later.

40′ Agbonlahor missed a glorious chance to put this game beyond Pompey. James’ goal kick cannoned of Davis and sent Agbonlahor clear but he rolled the ball wide from six yards out. He had the entire goal to aim for but tried to tuck it into the near post. Wrong decision.

39′ Milner wins another corner. It’s poorly dealt with and Heskey, turns, slips but manages to get a shot in from six yards. He puts it wide.

38′ Heskey looks like he’s rolling back the years. He links up well with Milner who sees a shot from inside the box deflected out for a corner.

37′ Portsmouth crank up the pressure and even the lumbering Sol Campbell comes up for a corner. If Villa break quickly he’ll never get back in time.

35′ Belhadj and Pennant combine for the former Liverpool winger to cross into the box, only for the goal-desperate Mullins to volley over from 12 yards.

34′ Portsmouth try to press and Glen Johnson wins a corner. Belhadj whips it in but it’s cleared by the head of Villa goal scorer Heskey.

30′ Cuellar crosses in a decent ball which is only headed away as far as Barry, who then curls the ball over the bar from just outside the box.

26′ Hreidarsson trips Craig Gardner on the edge of the Portsmouth box. The resulting free kick falls to Davies who attempts an audacious overhead kick in the area. It’s rubbish. Get back in defence Davies, you’re no Martin Laursen in the opposition area.

24′ Peter Crouch tries to reply quickly for Portsmouth but his shot from 20 yards is easily gathered by Brad Friedel.

21′ Goal! Portsmouth 0 Aston Villa 1. A goal kick is flicked on once and then again by Agbonlahor to Emile Heskey, who races through and fires home a debut goal low past David James.

19′ Considering it’s Villa who have the target man in Heskey, it’s Pompey who are trying to sling balls into the box with Belhadj and Pennant. It’s just a shame they are not very good at doing so.

17′ Hayden Mullins smells some debut glory for Portsmouth with an effort from 20 yards but it takes a wicked deflection out for a corner, which results in nothing.

16′ Petrov picks up a loose ball 20 yards out but curls the ball high and wide.

14′ Distin is sticking to Agbonlahor like glue and winning the ball off him at every opportunity.

13′ Agbonlahor loses out to Distin for the second time in five minutes – I thought this boy had pace?

12′ Barry whips in a cross to the obvious target that is Emile Heskey, though the ball is too high and goes out for a Portsmouth goal kick.

10′ Curtis Davies, a £10 million acquisition, miskicks on the edge of his own area but gets away with it.

7′ Pennant whips a ball into the box for the first time but Cuellar deals with it easily. Surely Pompey are not resorting to the long ball game this early on?

5′ Villa have started the better of the two and have pegged Pompey into their own half without really threatening on goal.

3′ Sean Davis fouls Gareth Barry, who delivers a free kick into the box which is headed away easily.

1′ The match gets underway with Villa and new signing Heskey kicking off.

0′ Adams makes four changes to the Portsmouth team which lost against Swansea in the FA Cup on the weekend. Luke Young returns after suspension for Villa, Steve Sidwell drops to the bench and Nigel Reo-Coker misses out completely.

0′ Transfer window signings Hayden Mullins and Jermaine Pennant line up for Portsmouth but Pele has not even made the subs bench. Aston Villa give a debut to Emile Heskey, who completed a £3.5 million move from Wigan last Friday.

0′ Portsmouth are unbeaten in five matches against Aston Villa, recording two wins and three draws since they were beaten 1-0 at Villa Park in March 2006. Tony Adams’ team are hovering precariously above the relegation zone and could do with a positive result this evening.

Reaction

Villa move up to third in the table and go joint on 47 points with Manchester United, well, for about 15 minutes until United’s resounding victory over West Brom is confirmed. Villa rode their luck at times but ground out a victory against Portsmouth who never gave up. Tony Adams’ side were vastly improved in the second half but the fact remains they have now taken just two points from the last 21. Mullins and Pennant appear to be good signings, with the latter looking exceptionally lively as Portsmouth chased an equaliser and Adams must believe the results will improve. If Belhadj kept his cool and not forced his team mates to play out the final 20 minutes without him, then they may have got the equaliser they tried so hard for. However, there is no denying Portsmouth lacked that final bit of quality and a better standard of opposition would not have drawn a blank against Martin O’Neill’s team with the number of chances Pompey created.

Man of the Match

For all Portsmouth’s huff-and-puff, the award has to go to the scorer of the winning goal, Emile Heskey. He has arrived at Villa Park to do a job and he did just that this evening. Heskey, as usual, put in a great hard-working performance and this was topped off with a well-taken goal. Heskey brings not only power, but pace to a team already blessed with players of devastating acceleration. The critics can no longer dismiss Villa as genuine Champions League contenders and they may even finish better than the fourth place they have been half-heartedly touted for now Heskey has joined the ranks.