Coventry City 2 Portsmouth 0

Aidy Boothroyd - who if Ken Bates is to believed, wants away from Coventry City already - sprung two surprises in the centre of defence for the opening fixture of the season, opting for Turner and Cameron rather than McPake and Wood. Michael Doyle was also selected ahead of most supporters choice in midfield, Sammy Clingan.

Having won the battle against HRMC on Thursday (Which could have seen them put out of business), Portsmouth turned up at the Ricoh with only fifteen players named for this fixture - and on the evidence of this display, will struggle throughout this season. Sadly, aside from losing some of their (Supposed) star players, they haven't lost the supporter with the bell....

It took a mere three minutes for Coventry City to take the lead, with Freddie Eastwood the man on target. Eastwood also scored the second goal (After 69 minutes), putting the match beyond doubt (If there was any), with a quality cross from David Bell (Whose place could be in doubt if/when Francis Laurent signs). Eastwood's unselfishness cost him the chance of a hat-trick soon after when he set up Bell rather than going for glory.

While Coventry City weren't particularly tested, this was a good team display, with Keogh at right-back one of a couple of stand-out performers (Having also impressed last weekend against WBA). Carsley was also coolness personified in midfield (The calming influence so missing over recent seasons), while Doyle also made one or two telling challenges.

Gary McSheffrey also chased anything and everything, managing to rescue one or two lost causes, and could rival Middlesboro's Kris Boyd for the title of 'Best Free Transfer Of The Summer'. Despite the reservations about Cameron being thrown in for this fixture, the young defender did all the simple things correctly, and made one quality challenge late on to help keep a clean sheet when an undeserved Pompey goal looked a certainty.

Ben Turner, while still far from convincing, also made one or two solid challenges, including one that put a Pompey player and the linesman on the floor! Better sides will more than likely give the two youngsters the runaround (Should they keep their places), but the unlikely pairing looked solid throughout this fixture.

Portsmouth created very little, with one blatant dive in the Coventry City penalty area being quite rightly ignored by the referee, while David Nugent was quite clearly frustrated (Mainly due to plenty of massively over-hit passes) from very early on. If he doesn't make Portsmouth's next fixture, it will more than likely be due to neck-ache thanks to looking to the sky every few minutes....

Platt and Baker were both brought on for Coventry City (Obviously!) with less than twenty minutes left, with Platt once again doing better than it was suggested he might do in this division, winning just about everything, and laying off some useful passes. For Portsmouth, the withdrawal of Utaka was greeted with a massive cheer by the travelling supporters.

Portsmouth view (As heard on the bridge to the car park): "Pile of shit".

TEAM: Westwood, Keogh, Cranie, Cameron, Turner, Bell (Baker 76), Carsley, Doyle, McSheffrey, Eastwood, Jutkiewicz  (Platt 72). SNU: Quirke, Wood, McPake, Clingan, O’Donovan.