PORTSMOUTH’S first win over Fulham at Fratton Park for 24 years was well worth waiting for, as a combination of sparkling attacking play and dismal defending made for a ludicrously eventful game. Portsmouth led 3-0 after 28 minutes but Fulham hit back with two goals before the interval.
Yakubu Aiyegbeni then completed his hat-trick to give Portsmouth a 4-2 lead with 18 minutes left, but a third Fulham goal kept the home supporters biting their nails until the final whistle signalled the club’s first win of the new campaign.
“I didn’t have anyone who could shut the game down, so it was a team that was going to go forward but also be vulnerable,” Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, said. “People say the defending was crap, but if you want to see me string nine across the middle and play one up, you’ve come to the wrong place. You’d rather watch that than a boring 0-0 draw, and so would I.”
Apart from the goals and memorable saves by both goalkeepers, there was also a clash between Moritz Volz and a spectator after the Fulham defender fell into a seating area during the second period, but the police will not take any action on a complaint made to them.
On the field, it seemed that Yakubu and Ricardo Fuller, who made an impressive debut after joining Portsmouth from Preston North End, were inspired by the presence of Diomansy Kamara, the Senegal forward, who was introduced to the crowd before kick-off after his £2 million transfer from Modena. After 19 minutes, Yakubu charged into the Fulham penalty area and, when his shot was blocked, the rebound fell to Eyal Berkovic 20 yards out and the midfield player took a single touch before sending a glorious volley past Edwin van der Sar, the Fulham goalkeeper.
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Three minutes later, Fuller dribbled past three Fulham defenders, turned into the penalty area and was tripped by Luis Boa Morte. Yakubu converted the penalty via the crossbar and it was 3-0 when the Nigeria forward took Fuller’s headed flick, charged past Zat Knight and hit a low shot into the far corner of the net.
Redknapp, though, knew the match was not over and was proved right six minutes before the break when Andrew Cole headed Boa Morte’s floated cross back over Shaka Hislop and in. It was 3-2 when Cole found Boa Morte at the second attempt and the Portugal forward slid the ball home.
If either team had decided during the interval that a more cautious approach might pay dividends, there was little evidence of it in the second half. Hislop made an astonishing save from Cole, whose close-range header looked in until the goalkeeper flung up an arm to divert the ball to safety.
Berkovic then threaded a pass between two defenders for Yakubu to complete the second hat-trick of his Portsmouth career. But the defenders in front of Hislop went to sleep again almost immediately and allowed Carlos Bocanegra to head in at the far post from a free kick by Boa Morte.
The result took Portsmouth from nineteenth place in the table to eleventh, above Fulham on goal difference. “We were a circus act at the back,” Chris Coleman, the Fulham manager, said, aware that he must improve his defence before his team’s next match, against Arsenal.
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“We’ve got ten days’ hard work because we’re playing the best team in Europe.”
PORTSMOUTH (4-4-2): S Hislop — L Primus, A De Zeeuw, D Stefanovic, D Unsworth — S Stone, N Quashie, E Berkovic (sub: L LuaLua, 79min), P Berger — R Fuller, Yakubu Aiyegbeni (sub: M Taylor, 87). Substitutes not used: J Ashdown, A Griffin, G O’Neil.
FULHAM (4-5-1): E van der Sar — M Volz, A Goma, Z Knight, C Bocanegra — T Radzinski (sub: C John, 68), S Legwinski (sub: B McBride, 86), P Bouba Diop, C Jensen, L Boa Morte — A Cole. Substitutes not used: M Crossley, M Pembridge, W McKinlay. Booked: Legwinski, Knight.
Referee: B Knight.