5 goals, 6 bookings and a 20 man brawl.

Portsmouth 3-2 Walsall

Quashie 45(+3) ' Todorov 57' Taylor 75'

Sonner 30' (pen) Sonner 65'(pen)

Ritchie 33, Quashie 38, Taylor 68

Sonner 38, Wrack 41, Leitao 74

Hislop , Crowe , Foxe , Ritchie , Harper , Taylor , Quashie , Diabate , Merson , Todorov , Pericard Subs: Kawaguchi , O'Neil , Robinson , Burchill , Buxton

Walker, Bazeley, Hay, Pollet, Roper, Wrack, O'Connor, Sonner, Corica, Leitao, Junior. Subs: Ward , Aranalde , Carbon , Birch , Simpson

Merson

Sonner

The Saddlers made an excellent start to what was an exhilarating game. Some great flowing movements forward were instigated by Steve Corica who continued in a central role, as Colin Lee kept the same 3-5-2 formation that had been effective against the Gills.

Walsall's crisp forward play earned them a free kick on the right hand edge of the penalty area after Steve Corica was fouled by Ritchie. Junior stepped up to take the free kick, and curled it with his left foot on to the top of the cross bar, as it looked to have beat Hislop and was on the way in to the net.

It took Pompey 10 minutes to register a shot on goal, or even look like threatening the Saddlers, and when they did have an opportunity Todorov shot wide of Walkers goal from the edge of the area.

The opening 20 minutes generally saw the Saddlers putting Pompey under pressure with a sequence of  corners and free kicks, but the delivery of these were poor, and the Saddlers failed to turn the pressure in to goals. Portsmouth began to have more of an influence on proceedings as Paul Merson tried to take control of the game.  Merson was playing along side Quashie in midfield, and Quashie wasn't scared to get forward  either and saw his 25 yard shot fly wide of the goal on 25 minutes.

Walsall were continuing to look dangerous around the Portsmouth penalty area, and were playing some neat football . It was some of this intricate play that put Corica through on goal with only Ritchie and the Keeper to beat, but before Corica could shoot Ritchie hacked him down, Penalty to Walsall. Danny Sonner stepped up and sent Shaka Hislop the wrong way with a well taken penalty on 30 minutes. Some people will say Ritchie should have walked, but their were players in the vicinity that could have covered. 

This acted as a wake up call to Pompey who immediately had a spring in their step and started to throw men forward. Quashie and Taylor both had chances before half time, as Walsall began to lose the grip on the game they had had in the fist 20 minutes.

As half time neared it looked like the Saddlers would be able to go in at half time leading, but Quashie's third effort from outside the box this time found its way in to the goal after a Harper cross had fell to him on the edge of the Walsall area. The ball had found its way through the Walsall players who had possibly hindered Jimmy Walkers site of the ball.

As soon as the game restarted the ref blew for half time.

The Saddlers found them selves under pressure straight after the restart as both Merson and Taylor both whipped good balls in to the box that no one was able to get on to the end off. But again, the Saddlers pushed on with a Junior header and Corica shot from the edge of the box signaling Walsall's intent to push Pompey all the way.

On 57 Minutes a Paul Merson cross in to the box this time found Todorov who headed Pompey in to the lead.  Some poor marking had given Todorov a free header in the middle of the penalty area, in a situation where a cross from Merson was the only option Portsmouth had.

The game then became dominated by a series of niggling fouls, offsides and some poor clearances from Shaka Hislop. Junior had been guilty of committing some very petty fouls, as he became increasingly frustrated in his efforts to have an impact on the game. Unfortunately for the Saddlers it just wasn't going Juniors way, as the Pompey center halves were first to the ball every time.  In a bid to inject some steel and energy in to the forward line Lee introduced Birch in place of Junior just after the hour mark.

It seemed to have worked as Birch looked lively and was willing to chase around putting Pompey under pressure. Just 5 minutes after coming on, Birch threaded a great ball through to Sonner who advanced in to the Portsmouth penalty area before Lassina Diabate bought him down earning the Saddlers their second penalty.  It seemed a strange decision because non of the Walsall fans or players appeared to have claimed for a penalty, but still Sonner stepped up and equalised for the Saddlers with another well struck penalty

We then saw some real end to end stuff, and shortly after the Walsall equaliser a 20 man brawl erupted in the Portsmouth area with Steve Corica, Diabate and Hislop being the three players who were the focus of the melee. What happened to cause it is unclear, but one clear thing is that something happened that really wound Diabette and Hislop up, to the extent that Corica found Hislops hands around his neck, while every player on the pitch seemingly charged in the penalty box to get stuck in to the action while  the referee and his two assistants sought to diffuse the situation. The referee then faced a hard decision and consulting his two linesmen over the incident.  Everyone had been focused on Darren Wrack trying to cross the ball in from the left flank, while Corica and Diabette were on the penalty spot where the initial incident took place. The referee and the linesmen had not seen the incident Clearly so decided to book nobody and start play with a drop ball.

This incident was in keeping with tone of  the hole, which had been frantic and sharp as bookings were thrown about like confetti by the referee. The atmosphere around the dilapidated Fratton Park was buzzing, with both sets of fans feeling that their side could take home the three points, but eventually a series of saves by Jim Walker from Quashie and Pericard allowed the lively Taylor to smash the ball home  from close range as the Walsall defence flapped over how they were going clear the rebounds.

It seemed unlikely that the Saddlers could come back for a third time, however with 3 minutes to go Birch had shot from the edge of the Pompey area that looked to be finding its way in to the bottom right hand corner only for Hislop to palm it around the post. Over all the Saddlers had battled well. It may well be Sonners best performance for the Saddlers yet, while he worked well with Corica and O'Connor in midfield.

Reaction : 4two - The performance was excellent, but i am gutted that such endeavor has not been rewarded by some points. We really hassled them throughout the game, and didn't let them settle. Merson was most defiantly the difference between the two sides. Good call by the ref over the brawl if he did not see it.  The ground is poor considering it could well be hosting premiership footie next season. Pompey are not as good as Leicester and Wolves !

Reaction: KennPFC - That Sonner of your is the biggest cheating get I have ever seen. You were a ********** Disgrace! Get back down to Div 2 where you belong. The only good thing about Walsall is the batli pies...(SaddlersNet)

Reaction: Jorge14 - The sooner we get some credit from the national media the better. Radio 5 apparently said that Portsmouth "under estimated us". We will receive no plaudits for our performance today which is annoying because if we would have won or drawn in a lesser performance we would have been centre of attention.- (UpTheSaddlers.Com : Click here for more reaction)

Reaction: TeamTalk - Matt Taylor celebrated his 21st birthday with the winner for Portsmouth in a 3-2 thriller with Walsall which was marred by a 20-man braw (TeamTalk.Com)

Reaction: Swift90 - How did we manage not to get anything from that. Definitely deserved something from today's performance

Reaction: Neil Curl -we were unlucky to come away without at least a point. ONE DANNY SONNER