Sports Mail nostalgia – when Brett Pitman’s double helped Pompey end the season with victory over Peterborough

In the build-up to every Pompey first team fixture in 2022/23, Roger Holmes will be looking back at a corresponding match by featuring an archive Sports Mail front cover and an inside page here at portsmouth.co.uk

Roger almost certainly boasts the largest collection of Sports Mails among Pompey fans - he has over 3,000 of them.

He wrote a weekly nostalgia page in the Sports Mail for most of the 21st century, right up until the end of last season.

With the Blues hosting Peterborough on Saturday, Roger turns the clock back to the end of the 2017/18 campaign …

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Pompey ended the season on a high note, on May 5 2018, as Brett Pitman’s two first-half goals brought a win over Peterborough at Fratton Park watched by 18,118.

The Blues’ skipper headed in from a Gareth Evans corner after 13 minutes and was on hand at the far post to touch home Jamal Lowe’s cross 13 minutes later.

Pompey bossed the first half and Pitman skied the ball over from three yards before bringing a fine save out of Jonathan Bond with a 25-yard shot.

The Blues were not so dominant after the break, but Pitman might have completed his hat-trick towards the end when he headed straight at the goalkeeper.

The victory allowed Pompey to leapfrog Posh and finish eighth, five points outside the play-off zone, at the end of Kenny Jackett’s first season in charge.

Pompey: Alex Bass, Nathan Thompson, Christian Burgess, Matt Clarke, Brandon Haunstrup, Stuart O’Keefe, Jamal Lowe, Gareth Evans, Ben Close, Kal Naismith (Matty Kennedy 77), Brett Pitman.

Peterborough: Jonathan Bond, Liam Shephard, Jack Baldwin, Stephen Taylor, Andrew Hughes, Marcus Maddison, Leonardo Da Silva Lopes, Anthony Grant, Gwion Edwards, George Cooper (Danny Lloyd 46), Idris Kanu (Joe Ward 46).

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Matt Clarke was crowned The News/Sports Mail Player of the Season. In his third season at Fratton Park, the centre half securing 57 per cent of the readers’ votes.

He had made hurtling progress all season and was the rock in the heart of Pompey’s defence. In second place was Pitman with 23 per cent of the votes.

The Blues skipper had finished top scorer and was the first player since Svetoslav Todorov to break the 20-goal barrier.

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Pompey ended their nine-year affiliation with Portsmouth-based company Jobsite who had become the club’s main sponsor in 2009/10. They signed a three-year contract with Portsmouth University to become the main sponsor.

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Gosport chairman Iain McInnes admitted big changes were needed at Privett Park following the club’s escape from Southern League Premier South relegation.

He said: ‘If the club is to get back to where it belongs, it cannot stay like it is. I believe the club can play at a higher level but to do that it needs to change into something different.

‘Although I have only been here for four months, it seems like four years.’

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Change appeared to be on the way at Nyewood Park with Bognor Regis Town supremo Jack Pearce expected to be in a new role within 12 months.

He wanted to introduce fresh, younger investors and volunteers to the club to maintain the professional way the Rocks were run and give them a chance of staying up if they could get back to National League South level.

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Wicor Mill came from 0-2 down to beat Co-Op Dragons 5-3 in the Portsmouth Sunday Challenge Cup final at Moneyfields. Ashley Elliott scored twice in his side’s extra-time triumph.