Blues ease to friendly triumph
A Pompey XI containing a mixture of youth and experience eased to a convincing 5-0 victory at non-league Burnham.
Adam McGurk netted the only goal before the break, but the Blues ran riot after it, with Jayden Stockley, Brandon Joseph-Buadi, Adam May and Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain all finding the target.
Ben Tollitt has the first opportunity on three minutes, but his goal-bound effort was cleared behind for a corner.
Tollitt and Snorre Nilsen then combined to tee-up McGurk, who cut in from the left and fired in an angled shot that came back off the post.
It was Pompey doing all the pressing, although Stockley and Joseph-Buadi were both caught offside when in good positions.
Stockley did beat linesman’s flag when collecting Tollitt’s pass, but the striker’s cross just evaded the head of Josph-Buadi.
Pompey were ahead just seconds later, though, when Hollands’ cross was headed home by McGURK.
They continued to push forward, but were not able to penetrate the Burnham back-line again before the interval.
Half Time: Burnham 0 Pompey XI 1
McGurk hammered a free-kick inches over the crossbar on 52 minutes following a lacklustre start to the second half.
Burnham thought they had equalised on the hour mark, however, when Alex Bass came for a cross in no-man’s land and Kane Jones headed home, only to be denied by an offside flag.
The hosts were certainly giving their opponents more to think about as the game progressed and five substitutions did not help Pompey’s cohesion.
But the Blues did double their advantage on 72 minutes when STOCKLEY fired in an unstoppable long-range free-kick and that opened the floodgates.
The lively Tollitt managed to evade his marker and tee-up JOSEPH-BUADI for a simple finish, before MAY added a fourth with a 35-yard screamer.
And another impressive strike from OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN wrapped up an emphatic victory for Pompey at the death.
Burnham: Oualah; Walters, Whitty, Lowe, Rhone; Millar (Suarez 41), Fogarty, Maloney, Clack (Mitford 15); Davies, Jones
Pompey XI: Bass; Nilsen, Webster, Field (Yates 65), Haunstrup (Davies 65); Close (May 65), Hollands (Oxlade-Chamberlain 65); Tollitt, McGurk (Sayers 65), Joseph-Buadi; Stockley
Referee: Kieran Bailey