Pompey pay the penalty
Also In The News
|
Arsenal's weakened team was unable to hold on as Bolton grabbed a late winner as Gunner's bogey man Stelios Giannakopoulos popped up to make it 1-0. |  |
Sunday, 29, Jan 2006 08:35
Liverpool squeezed past Portsmouth in the FA Cup fourth round with a 2-1 win after an uninspiring encounter at Fratton Park.
The opening half-hour was drab and chanceless, with the only incidents of note being two Portsmouth bookings for late challenges.
But just when it looked as though neither side was capable of fashioning a breakthrough, the referee gifted Liverpool the game's first opportunity.
From an innocuous corner, the ball bounced up between three Portsmouth players and hit the underside of Dejan Stefanovic's arm.
The penalty award seemed harsh as Pompey's captain had his back to the ball and appeared to know little about it, but the referee was unmoved by the home protests.
Steven Gerrard kept his cool to send an unstoppable penalty into debutant Dean Kiely's bottom right-hand corner for a 1-0 lead.
Matters got worst for Portsmouth as John Arne Riise added an indisputable second before the interval.
There seemed to be little danger as he raced up the inside-left channel, but his early shot took Portsmouth by surprise, nutmegging Andy O'Brien and flying low past Kiely into the bottom corner.
Kiely kept his side in the game as he bravely raced out to deny Morientes after the Spaniard was set up by Gerrard.
And Portsmouth ensured the second half would be more interesting when they pulled a goal back after just nine minutes.
Gary O'Neal swung a free-kick into the Liverpool area, Sean Davis beat Jamie Carragher to the header and Pompey's new signing flicked the ball past Jose Reina to give the vociferous home fans hope.
But for all their pressure, Portsmouth could not conjure a second goal and Liverpool closed out a win to leave the south-coast side concentrating on Premiership survival for the remainder of the season.