This game has left me slightly confused; surely a 1-1 draw was a bad result but is it a good one? Put it this way, things are now so desperate and so destitute that it was more of a positive Portsmouth not gaining an extra 2 points on the day than us actually gaining a point.

It was a pure and utter useless performance in the 1st half, never seen such a crap performance since Cardiff last season. Poor passing, lack of movement, lack of creativity and flair and we simply had nothing.

Bit of a surprise seeing Marlon King start, because of Gary O’Neil’s absence, which meant Aliadiere playing on the right. Tony McMahon started at right back replacing Hoyte, which didn’t really change much.

Downing had it all to do in the 1st half, competing with Glen Johnson was no easy task, Pogatetz had a nightmare and was fast asleep on a short corner from Pompey but to our annoyance so was everybody else resulting in Peter Crouch scoring is 1st this year. The writing was on the wall for him to score and it was proven.

The second half was well weird and dysfunctional from both teams meant Boro ahem sorry I mean Tuncay running around like man possessed. Sorry that was a little harsh, we are being disrespectful to the other 10 players and congratulate them shall we? Give me a fucking break Gareth, they played crap. Ask why we sang the only players name who actually grabbed the bull by the horns which we’ve only been waiting for, for 27 games. The “only 1 player” chant might have been a little harsh but I hope they got the message on the sheer frustration from the fans and what we’re thinking.

That was a game we needed to win, home games are massive to our survival, that’s another draw where at the beginning I felt we could get more, with games such as Newcastle, Blackburn and Wigan all these are 3 points from 9 but if we got the 9 we wouldn’t be in this mess.

I hope that at the end of the season I don’t use similar sentences such as the one above especially in a drone and narked off, past tense dialogue.

Our goal finally came about through Marlon King, who finished off Boro’s pressing attack with his left boot, a sad state of affairs when you see a striker that nobody wants slotting home and a 12 million striker who can’t get the ball off the floor, goal machine? The only machine you can associate Alves with is WALL E but I suppose he lays there in the 6 yard box and thinks about his priceless wide screen being thrown in a transit van, shame.

It’s not gone, it’s not lost, but a part of me thinks we’re in the waiting room waiting to be put down.

MarkA