Pompey wide men vote ends in a Shaggy God story

The man they called Shaggy – and the man who scored one of Pompey’s most famous goals of the past 50 years – beat Vince Hilaire in the final of a tournament in which thousands of votes were cast in polls on Twitter.

In a final that saw 750 votes registered, Anderton polled 56.3% of those cast, with Hilaire taking 43.7%.

Most fans seemed to think it a fitting final – after 53 other wingers and wide midfielders from down the Pompey ages had been knocked out.

This was the fourth of five ‘favourite Blues players’ polls we are running throughout this season.

Already, David James has been crowned readers’ favourite goalkeeper, Linvoy Primus your favourite defender and Paul Merson your best-loved midfielder.

Now Anderton joins their exclusive club – and is the first man to have played for Pompey before the turn of the millennium to win one of these polls.

Anderton only just overcame Lomana LuaLua in his semi-final, while Hilaire reached the final by virtue of a narrow win over Jamal Lowe.

In the quarter-finals, the draw for which we revealed on this page last week, Anderton eased past Ronan Curtis, Lowe beat Jed Wallace, though not by much, Hilaire took three-quarters of the vote in his tussle with Jack Froggatt and LuaLua got the better of Patrik Berger in a battle of two Pompey Premier League idols.

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Before the last eight, plenty of great names had fallen by the wayside – from Peter Harris to Steve Stone, Kevin O’Callaghan to Andres D’Alessandro.

Anderton’s Pompey ‘numbers’ don’t look much on paper, but it’s the story behind them that means he is still held in high regard three decades on.

He represented the Blues only in two seasons – 1990-91 and 91-92 – totalling 77 appearances and 13 goals before joining Spurs.

But it’s when you realise six of those 13 strikes came in cup competitions that you begin to get to the crux of why Anderton is still remembered so fondly.

He was one of the heroes of the run to the FA Cup semi-final in 1991-92, scoring a famous double in the fourth round win over Orient and another two in the fifth round replay at Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park.

He won the free-kick from which Alan McLoughlin scored the only goal of the quarter-final win at home to Forest – which, incidentally, was 30 years ago last Monday – then of course put the Blues ahead in extra-time in their semi with Liverpool at Highbury, only for Ronnie Whelan to break blue hearts a few minutes later.

While congratulating Shaggy on his win, we must also say well done to losing finalist Vince ‘He’s here, he’s there’ Hilaire, who totalled 174 games and 27 goals in four seasons at Fratton.

Thanks to everyone who’s taken part in the wide-boy votes on my Twitter timeline (@stevebone1) over the past couple of weeks. It leaves just one more poll to go – the one to find who your favourite striker is. Just think, you might have to choose between Hateley and Biley, Claridge and Whittingham. That tournament will take place in April, so watch this space!