The importance of Portsmouth’s south coast derby triumph over Southampton and what that could mean for fringe and academy players

To the surprise of many, Danny Cowley included a number of players with first-team Fratton Park, in a squad which also included seven academy talents.

Pepe Lacey was joined by Neil Allen to reflect on the Blues’ victory and the key talking points from the tie.

Q: What did you make of the performance last night from Pompey?

First of all, it’s really important to point out that it’s not a proper south coast derby in terms of the first-teams facing each other.

We know it’s the Hampshire Cup, we know it’s a Pompey XI against a Southampton B team, we are well aware that it’s not a full on proper south coast derby. However, it is a south coast derby whatever the level and it does mean something still.

The fact that there were more than 2,000 Pompey fans there last night and a lot of people were tuning in and keen to follow the progress. It was a really good occasion.

It was good for the players involved, lovely to see Koby Mottoh when he scored because he hit the post with a chance before that. But it was wonderful to see him score and then run in front of the Fratton End as well, it was fantastic to watch that.

It was an enjoyable evening but with the strength of Pompey’s team, they were expected to have won it.

Q: Were you surprised with how strong Danny Cowley went for the contest?

Cowley spoke afterwards about the importance and relevance the game is to the city and to the shirt and he wanted to win the game.

When Pompey played in the Hampshire Cup last season in the early rounds, there were some first-team players in there like: Michael Jacobs, Paul Downing, Gassan Ahadme and Alex Bass, but there were more kids. As the rounds went on, there were only kids being included.

He’s done it before but last night was very similar to the team that beat Aston Villa under-21s in the Papa John’s Trophy.

It was far stronger than any other team they fielded last year in the Hampshire Cup. Pompey got to the Hampshire Cup quarter-finals against Farnborough last season and it was full of kids, every member of that team were kids from the academy.

Last night, they had two academy players starting, of which one had already played in the Papa John’s Trophy. That just shows how seriously Cowley treated that match. No doubt that it was influenced by the opposition.

Q: After impressive results against Southampton and Aston Villa’s youngsters, will those fringe players who featured in both games be knocking on Cowley’s door for a place in his League One side?

There is no way anyone can stake a claim off the back of these sorts of games, even though there were some good performances there.

Ryan Tunnicliffe isn't going to get back into Pompey’s midfield, Reeco Hackett isn’t going to suddenly start first-team games because he’s got two goals against Southampton’s kids, Michael Jacobs is trying to prove his fitness but they’ve got Josh Koroma there at the moment.

Zak Swanson and Kieron Freeman could, just based on the current right-back situation, the goalkeepers aren’t going to change either. It’s not going to change Cowley’s thoughts whatsoever.

It’ll do their reputations no harm. Denver Hume impressed and he’s pushing close to a first-team recall but he’s got to compete with Connor Ogilvie and Clark Robertson at left-back. Jay Mingi did impress last night but he’s well down the pecking order.

It was just minutes in their legs, they had the chance to impress and they did that.

Josh Dockerill, second-year scholar, had a chance to show what he could to potentially win a third-year scholarship. Each player had their own competitions to win but I can’t see anyone getting into the first-team just yet!

Q: How positive is it to see young players being integrated in teams that have first-team players in and how will that boost their learning and development at Pompey?

It’s great and that’s what the Papa John’s Trophy is so good at doing.

Kenny Jackett, for all his faults, blooded a lot of kids in that competition over a number of years. It was only when Pompey started to do well in the 2018-19 campaign that he brought the experienced players in during the semi-final at Bury and the final against Sunderland.

Before then, it was players like Alex Bass, Brandon Haunstrup, Adam May, Matt Casey, Christian Burgess - when he wasn’t part of the first-team. It’s happened for a long time and it’s been beneficial for them. It’s a great opportunity for them to get minutes, match fitness and impress.

I always enjoy these games because you get to see different players in different environments. I’ve never seen Payce much, I haven’t seen Dockerill play and it’s a great opportunity for us to see them as well.

Suddenly, people know who Koby Mottoh is and have heard of him now, it’s just a great opportunity for these kids to show what they can do.

To play at Fratton Park, playing in front of more than 2,000 fans in a south coast derby is a great chance for them.

Q: Although it was a Hampshire Cup game, it was a derby and everyone kept out of trouble both players and fans and it was such a great occasion, wasn’t it?

It was a very good evening. I know Southampton fans are saying they don’t care but Pompey would’ve been absolutely gutted to have lost that.

I know it’s a minor scale to the importance of it but it still has a degree of significance to the supporters and Pompey won 5-2 and it means a lot to many people.