Men´s Football suffers first loss

Last Wednesday, despite a largely encouraging performance, The University of Surrey were well-beaten by The University of Portsmouth 4-1. But this tells only a fraction of the story.

 Within a minute Surrey were behind when a poor back-pass let Portsmouth’s number nine through, who was left with the simple task of rolling the ball into the goal. Surrey-undeterred- sought to gain a foothold in the match and for the next five minutes both sides scrapped hard but were unable to put any meaningful attacks together.

After a while Surrey were able to produce consistently good football. Surrey set about gaining the initiative with midfield pair  Andrew Fox and Tasos Rosides, putting in a number of tackles which could cause wide scale panic in the shin-pad manufacturing industry. The duo were also able to set up a number of raids down the flanks, and although on a number of occasions the final-ball was lacking, Surrey were gaining momentum.

 Despite the match being a friendly, the tackles remained fierce - and to Portsmouth’s detriment, their players’ attitudes to the referee were disappointing. Surrey did not indulge in such dissent, and focused on their football to the
extent that twice in a minute they were agonisingly close to the deserved equaliser, with both chances falling to Murray; first a missed header from a devilish Nicholas Boutal cross, and then, following a defensive error, his jinking run ended unsuccessfully when he fired inches over.

By this time Surrey were looking the likely team to score - Fox was strong in midfield, with captain Kye Hunter and Boutal causing constant problems for Portsmouth. Surrey also looked solid at the back with Stavros Panagiotou particularly impressive in repelling any sporadic attacks. Yet for all their efforts Surrey could not force a goal and were fortunate not to concede themselves, when a breakaway attack resulted in a one-on-one chance, which goalkeeper Jonathan Grilo did very well to save. Portsmouth - encouraged by this rare opportunity - started to get back into the game again, creating  a few half-chances. Unfortunately they let themselves down with poor discipline; the referee finally losing patience with a bad tackle and the subsequent back-chat from Portsmouth’s goal-scorer and booking him.

 The half ended with a great chance for Surrey; a corner half-cleared to Fox whose venomous drive was brilliantly headed behind for another corner which was nervously (but successfully) cleared. As the half-time whistle blew, Surrey were left scratching their heads as to how they remained behind, thinking that the equaliser would surely come.

 However it was Portsmouth who were again brighter at the sound of the whistle. There was plenty of concerted pressure on the Surrey defence, but the visitors were continuously thwarted by a strong and disciplined back-line. Surrey substituted Fox for James Selby with a view to changing things in midfield, but Portsmouth continued to threaten and after two close calls finally succeeded; a through ball putting the Portsmouth number twelve clear to score the second goal which Portsmouth’s second-half display had warranted.

Surrey continued to work hard and two more dangerous crosses from Boutal were turned away, with a third headed just over as Surrey desperately scrapped for a way back into a game that was rapidly slipping away.

Portsmouth continued to threaten on the break, their number thirty-three repeatedly causing problems which Liam Hark did just enough to solve. Another good save was required by Grilo to keep Surrey alive, but their hopes struck down with a deadly blow when a counter-attack resulted in a tap-in and a second goal for Portsmouth’s number twelve.

With five minutes left Surrey created another chance; a good run by Hark resulting in a corner, which was subsequently powered into the net by the impressive Boutal, with a header which could only have been more emphatic had it been fired from a cannon. So could the home side muster one last effort? Surrey continued to work hard but with the final action of the game, Portsmouth’s number thirty-three showed yet more magic and quick feet to jink through the defence, forcing a good save from Grilo, but the rebound fell kindly for their number twelve, completing one of the simplest hat-tricks imaginable.

So Surrey - in spite of an industrious and often effervescent display - were ultimately handed defeat by a Portsmouth side who simply took their chances when they were on top. This being a friendly, Surrey should not be discouraged.