Blues win on penalties
Pompey Academy got the new season off to their perfect start by progressing in the Youth Alliance Cup.
The young Blues beat Exeter 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in Devon.
Lewis Gill (pictured) had fired the visitors ahead early in the second half, only for the Grecians to equalise on the hour mark.
Snorre Nilsen missed his spot-kick, but Conor Chaplin, Adam May, James Granger and Calvin Davis all found the target, while Pompey keeper Monty George kept out one of Exeter’s.
That forced the shoot-out into sudden death and after Gill kept his nerve before the hosts’ taker failed to hit the net.
Academy coach Mikey Harris said: “It was a good, solid performance and we dominated for long periods of the match.
“But we let ourselves down in the final third because we weren’t clinical enough in front of goal.
“It was a good finish from Lewis for our goal, however, with some nice build-up play leading up to it.
“But then we conceded from the second phase of a set-piece. That’s disappointing because it’s something we’ve worked on in training.
“Then we started to dominate again and the lads showed good character to recover from the equaliser and win on penalties.
“We want to go as far as we can in the competition – not least because Paul Hardyman keeps reminding me how well they’ve done in the past!”
Pompey: George; Davis, Granger, Field, Haunstrup (Rwakarambwe 90); Nilsen, May; Gill, Chaplin, Joseph-Buadi (Haitham 62); Sayers (Oxlade-Chamberlain 72)