Portsmouth 0 Chelsea 1 PORTSMOUTH HAVE confirmed Paul Hart as their manager until the end of the season, and the manager will be grateful he will not be visited again before the end of the campaign by the likes of Chelsea. This contest had threatened to be a soggy stalemate, the hosts eking out the better opportunities and ready to celebrate their point, until one flash of genuine quality amid the downpour wrecked the locals' mood.
Hart has had his first experience of cruel defeat at the helm of this club. Didier Drogba, so anaemic for much of this campaign but resurgent in recent weeks, provided the game’s pivotal moment only 11 minutes from time, gathering Jose Bosingwa’s cross and cushioning a curled finish low and beyond David James to squeeze out the advantage.
Guus Hiddink has overseen narrow victories in each of his four games in charge, all by a single goal, yet he retains the magic touch. How Portsmouth, still only two points clear of the cut-off, crave such inspiration.
The four points accrued by Hart and Brian Kidd in their two previous games in charge had constituted something of a revival at this club given the ignominy endured too often over Tony Adams’ brief reign. Portsmouth had teetered on the brink, poor luck failing to disguise a lack of cohesion in their performances to undermine the former Arsenal centre-half.
The club’s owner, Sacha Gaydamak, and executive chairman Peter Storrie had been seeking “stability” in granting Hart, previously the director of youth development, some permanence in the role. Theirs had been a pursuit of “continuity” in turning to Adams, Harry Redknapp’s number two, back in October.
There is certainly more belief in these parts at present that disaster can be staved off. Chelsea had not lost in the league to these opponents since 1957 but they were stretched at times as this arena was drenched in a deluge.
Hermann Hreidarsson and David Nugent, both revived in recent times, should have tested Petr Cech in the opening jousts. Sean Davis did, skimming a shot from distance, only for the goalkeeper to save wonderfully. Cech was merely relieved to choke Hreidarsson’s subsequent stabbed attempt from close range.
Yet, while those opportunities unsettled Chelsea, they did rather puncture long periods of the visitors’ possession. Hiddink, like Hart, has had an immediate effect since assuming the reins, hoisting a team that had been threatening to stall under Luiz Felipe Scolari back into second place with narrow wins in his first two league games.
He had cited plenty of aspects to his team’s play still in need of improvement ahead of the visit to the south coast. That work is still to be implemented, but there was promise to be had in Drogba’s bustling energy and Frank Lampard’s class through the centre.
With Nicolas Anelka absent nursing a toe injury, Drogba was a man possessed, tearing at the home side’s back-line as if he was competing for a Jose Mourinho side once again. The Ivorian was agonisingly close to tapping in Ashley Cole’s fizzed centre as it careered across the goal-line.
Lampard, taking up the baton, forced James to save from distance. The veteran England goalkeeper broke a record here, with this his 538th Premier League appearance, and excelled in denying Alex’s free-kick in first half stoppage time. His spill from Florent Malouda’s slippery cross was less to the hosts’ liking.
Portsmouth’s frantic late pressure, with crosses flung towards Crouch and massed scrambles inside the visitors’ penalty area, rarely threatened to yield an equaliser.
Guardian Service
PORTSMOUTH:James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Pennant (Utaka 70), Mullins, Davis, Kranjcar, Crouch, Nugent. Subs Not Used: Begovic, Kanu, Kaboul, Pamarot, Basinas, Belhadj.
CHELSEA:Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Ashley Cole, Mikel (Belletti 56), Ballack (Mancienne 90), Lampard, Kalou (Quaresma 60), Drogba, Malouda. Subs Not Used: Hilario, Ivanovic, Di Santo, Ferreira. Goals: Drogba 79.
Referee:P Dowd (Staffordshire).
