CHECKATRADE TROPHY
Saturday December 2nd, 12.30pm
Fratton Park
PORTSMOUTH 2
Gareth Evans 41
Stuart O'Keefe 58
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0
Attendance: 1,780 (128 Cobblers fans)
Portsmouth: Luke McGee, Danny Rose, Matt Clarke, Christian Burgess, Stuart O’Keefe, Curtis Main, Jamal Lowe (sub Matty Kennedy 88), Conor Chaplin, Nathan Thompson, Gareth Evans, Brandon Haunstrup (sub Drew Talbot 68)
Subs not used: Alex Bass, Kyle Bennett, Adam May, Matt Casey, Bradley Lethbridge
Cobblers: David Cornell, Brendan Moloney, David Buchanan, Ash Taylor, Leon Barnett, Regan Poole (sub Billy Waters 77), Lewis McGugan, Sam Hoskins (sub Dean Bowditch 63), Matt Crooks, Chris Long (sub Sam Foley 46), Marc Richards
Subs not used: Luke Coddington, George Smith, Ryan McGivern, Yaser Kasim
Referee: Mr Tom Nield
Booked:
Portsmouth: none
Cobblers: none
Sent off:
Portsmouth: none
Cobblers: none
David Cornell, Lewis McGugan and Sam Hoskins, back from a hamstring injury and having signed a new deal at Sixfields, all came into the side for the Checkatrade Trophy second round tie. Shaun McWilliams (groin) missed the match as a precaution while Matt Grimes was suspended having picked up two bookings in the group stage of the competition. Former Cobblers midfielder Danny Rose started for Pompey.
The game was played on a Saturday with both sides out of the FA Cup and kicked off at the earlier time of 12.30 to allow live video streaming on the club’s iFollow service.
After a fairly quiet opening half an hour in the lunchtime kick-off, Cornell made a good save to prevent Gareth Evans putting Portsmouth in front at a fairly sparsely populated Fratton Park. At the other end Christian Burgess made a good block to deny Chris Long after a pacy run from Hoskins.
Portsmouth took the lead on 41 minutes, Gareth Evans with a far post header following a quick counter-attack from the home side.
Chris Long, hobbling towards the end of the first half, was replaced at half-time by Sam Foley.
The Cobblers started the second half at a decent tempo and it took a terrific save from home goalkeeper Luke McGee to keep out a powerful Ash Taylor header from a Lewis McGugan free kick.
Stuart O’Keefe doubled Pompey’s lead just before the hour mark, driving a shot into the bottom corner.
Curtis Main had a chance to put the result beyond doubt but dragged his shot wide after being fed in by Conor Chaplin. With time ticking away Cornell then made a good double save to deny first Evans and then Chaplin on the follow-up to keep the scoreline at 2-0 and that’s how it finished.
PORTSMOUTH MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 5
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (5) 10
CORNERS: (2) 5
FOULS: (5) 10
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (4) 6
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 3
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 6
CORNERS: (3) 5
FOULS: (4) 16
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 1