Portsmouth 1 QPR 1: Neil Allen's verdict - From a bang to a whimper as volatile Blues implode
Pompey return to the Championship’s relegation zone after Fratton Park point
It was rather like the cherished sight of witnessing young children excitingly ripping open their presents on Christmas morning and whelping with unbridled glee as the delicious contents are embraced.
Followed by the unwelcome afternoon intrusion of odious family members into your home for festive dinner, spreading their bilious bunkum to choke the joy and bonhomie previously so abundantly in residence.
A day of great contrasts, an occasion of startling contradictions, lurching from one extreme to another. This was truly a game of two halves.
As one wag on social media put it, if you saw Pompey in a pub you’d be happy to buy them a drink. After all, they only ever have one half.
It’s a quip befitting any Christmas cracker, not that anyone was particularly amused at Fratton Park on Boxing Day over the immensely frustrating outcome which unfolded. From a bang to a whimper.
Against QPR, John Mousinho’s men conjured up their best 45 minutes of the season, brimming with delightful football, sumptuous one-touch play and a swaggering style to dominate proceedings with ease.
Ignoring one South Stand chap’s familiar cry of ‘Get it forward’ at every opportunity, the hosts built with purpose and patience, players comfortable in possession and precise with their passing, yet also punchy with the press. As a consequence, a side pushing for the play-offs couldn’t lay a glove on them.
Anything but relegation strugglers for 45 minutes
Perhaps Rangers were simply standing back and admiring, although maybe their cunning gameplan was to grant the Blues time on the ball, not fearing their ability to punish. Nonetheless, a team representing anything but relegation strugglers seized the opportunity.
The classy conductor from deep was Andre Dozzell. Potentially with a point to prove against his former club, yet, regardless of motivation, he produced a sublime display which transcended levels above every other player on display.
As for Harvey Blair, selected to replace the injured Josh Murphy on the left wing for his first start since May, a blistering start to the match also drove the hosts up the pitch as the youngster caused plenty of problems with his directness.
Pompey’s rich reward was a thoroughly-deserved lead at the break, with Terry Devlin pouncing from 12 yards with a left-footed finish after Richard Kone had half-cleared Conor Chaplin’s right-wing corner.
Admittedly, his third goal of the season arrived late in a half which also saw Colby Bishop strike a post with a header and keeper Ben Hamer produce a superb stop to keep out a curling right-footed shot from the striker.
Yet everybody of Pompey persuasion would surely have entered half-time acknowledging one of - if not the - best 45 minutes of the campaign so far had put them into a winning position at the halfway mark.
Inevitable QPR second-half comeback
Of course it was inevitable QPR would rally and reorganise at the break, particularly having been denied the opportunity when Kader Dembele attempted to delay play by crumpling to the floor in-game in order to change his boots.
Normally, it’s the goalkeeper who invents injury to initiate an impromptu team talk. On this occasion, referee James Linington, insisted the winger was bundled off the pitch to sort out his footwear and the match carried on regardless.
Still, it was a very different QPR who returned for the second half. And it was an unrecognisable Pompey who joined them on the Fratton Park pitch.
Dozzell faded alarmingly, Mark Kosznovszky was forced off with a dead leg, Harvey Blair tired significantly and, by his own honest admission, couldn’t progress beyond 59 minutes in his first start of the campaign.
Even before those exits, the volatile Blues had retreated within their shell, allowing QPR a foothold in the game they had previously never threatened to during the opening 45 minutes. Suddenly it was the visitors in control.
Then, on 61 minutes, a corner was flighted into the box from the right and there was skipper Jimmy Dunne with a free header from six-yards out as Pompey’s set-piece weakness was once against brutally exposed as the game became 1-1.
Comfortable, far too comfortable
Certainly QPR never threatened to win the game, they didn’t even come anywhere close to matching the levels of domination demonstrated by their opponents in the first half, yet they were comfortable, far too comfortable. Now it was Pompey kept at arm’s length with ease.
Mousinho’s substitutes couldn’t inspire, with Adrian Segecic a particular disappointment, and the match petered out into a draw which the travelling faithful couldn’t possibly have anticipated at half-time.
Pompey had dominated the first half, Rangers had dominated the second, all square, handshakes all round. Except, having soared the heights, the plummet back to earth was brutal for the Blues.
Back in the relegation zone, set-piece issues exposed once again, and another reminder of the inability to play consistently at the required level for beyond 45 minutes, it was hard to stomach for the Fratton faithful.
From opening presents at home to gifting them to unwelcome visitors. Merry Christmas.