FA Cup
January 2, 2010
Portsmouth
1 - 1
Coventry City
FA Cup
15:00 GMT, January 2, 2010
Fratton Park, England
Referee: P Dowd
Bell strikes for City draw
Scoring Summary
| Portsmouth | Coventry City |
|---|---|
| Kevin-Prince Boateng (45') | David Bell (30') |
Teams
| Portsmouth | Coventry City |
|---|---|
| 31 Asmir Begovic | 1 Keiren Westwood |
| 7 Hermann Hreidarsson | 2 Stephen Wright |
| 16 Steve Finnan | 24 Richard Wood |
| 3 Younes Kaboul | 15 Martin Cranie |
| 8 Papa Bouba Diop | 6 James McPake |
| 11 Michael Brown | 7 David Bell |
| 22 Richard Hughes | 21 Michael McIndoe |
| 23 Kevin-Prince Boateng | 4 Sammy Clingan |
| 35 Marc Wilson | 17 Aron Gunnarsson |
| 20 Tommy Smith | 11 Clinton Morrison |
| 9 Frederic Piquionne | 10 Freddy Eastwood |
| Substitutes | |
| 21 Jamie Ashdown | Dimitrios Konstantopoulos 13 |
| 14 Mike Williamson | Marcus Hall 3 |
| 18 Anthony Vanden Borre | Elliott Ward 5 |
| 6 Hayden Mullins | Chris Hussey 14 |
| 33 Angelos Basinas | Jermaine Grandison 34 |
| 17 John Utaka | Leon Best 9 |
| 19 Danny Webber | Sean Jeffers 36 |
| Substitutions | |
| Hayden Mullins for Richard Hughes (57) | Dimitrios Konstantopoulos for Keiren Westwood (46) |
| John Utaka for Papa Bouba Diop (71) | Leon Best for Clinton Morrison (74) |
| Danny Webber for Frederic Piquionne (80) | |
| Yellow Cards | |
| Younes Kaboul (90) | Stephen Wright (49) |
| Richard Wood (90) | |
| · Squads: Portsmouth | Coventry City | |
Coventry held cash-strapped Portsmouth to a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park to set up a richly-deserved FA Cup third-round replay.
• Grant feels for furious fans
The Sky Blues went ahead against the run of play after half an hour thanks to a brilliant 20-yard effort from David Bell.
Kevin-Prince Boateng nodded a leveller for the Premier League side in first-half stoppage time, but the troubled 2008 FA Cup winners never looked like finishing off Chris Coleman's resilient side.
Portsmouth went into the clash without influential midfielder Jamie O'Hara, who returned to parent club Tottenham after his loan deal expired.
Asmir Begovic continued to cover for injured goalkeeper David James, who is still struggling with a calf problem, while Nadir Belhadj, Kanu, Hassan Yebda and Aruna Dindane were all on African Cup of Nations duty.
But at a barely half-full Fratton Park, Portsmouth were by far the brightest of the two sides in the opening stages.
Tommy Smith tested Sky Blues goalkeeper Keiren Westwood after just three minutes when he latched on to Younes Kaboul's long ball.
His effort from the edge of the box was well parried away and Westwood halted Boateng's attempt to cash in on the rebound.
With the visitors firmly penned in their own half, Frederic Piquionne raced down the right after ten minutes but his cross just evaded the onrushing Boateng.
The former Tottenham man was leading the Sky Blues back line a merry dance on the edge of their box after 29 minutes, before feeding Piquionne who shot wildly across the face of goal.
With Pompey failing to find a breakthrough and the away supporters asking the Premier League stars "Where have your wages gone?", their season took another turn for the worse as Bell unleashed a precision right-foot shot low into Begovic's bottom corner.
Westwood needed to be at his best to prevent Piquionne equalising three minutes later. Smith latched on to a brilliant flick from Richard Hughes before setting up the Martinique striker, whose effort was nicely turned away.
It was Richard Hughes' brilliance that got Pompey back into the game in first-half stoppage time, when he crossed from the left of the box for Boateng to nod home with ease.
Coventry suffered a massive blow at the break when goalkeeper Westwood was forced to come off. The 25-year-old enjoyed an impressive first half but was crouched on the pitch with his head under a towel prior to kick-off.
He gave way to Dimitrios Konstantopoulos and Portsmouth's Hermann Hreidarsson wasted no time in testing him with a fearsome 25-yard effort after 48 minutes. It was straight at the Greek, though, and he caught it comfortably.
Coventry's best chance at the start of the second half fell to Clinton Morrison after superb work from James McPake after 55 minutes.
The Sky Blues number six charged from the centre of midfield but striker Morrison got the ball caught under his feet and scuffed his effort over.
But Portsmouth raised their game and Konstantopoulos was forced into a save when Boateng chased down Michael Brown's ball over the visitors' rearguard and shot from the left corner of the six-yard box.
Boateng's presence on the left side of the Coventry penalty area was clearly causing Coleman's side problems.
The Ghana international was picked out by a superb sweeping ball from Kaboul after 81 minutes. Despite controlling the pass beautifully, Konstantopoulos kept his curling effort out with a brilliant save at full stretch.
Pompey continued to edge the contest but the Sky Blues' back-up goalkeeper ensured his side a replay with excellent late stops from John Utaka and Smith efforts.