23/08/06: City 0 Pompey 0Updated: October 3rd, 2007
An unattractive game scarred by a brutal assault. A video clip of the incident can be found here.
After ducking the issue in his post-match interview (link), I believe most City fans hope Pearce speaks out about this vicious assault today.
City fans roundly condemned Thatcher’s actions on the talkboards, Pompey fans threaten legal action and worse (link), and it would be surprising if the player wasn’t interviewed by the police.
The game itself did little to lift the gloom descending on our club.
After beating Pompey in the same fixture last year, this has to go down as two points lost. City have now failed to score in five hours and 22 mins of Premiership football, and the new 4-3-3 formation so far looks unlikely to yield many goals
The official attendance of 37,214 was the lowest ever at Eastlands and 5,769 down on the first game of last season. Some fans at the game suspect the real attendance was closer to 30,000.
The only bright note was the performances of Nicky Weaver and Paul Dickov, who both had claim to be City’s man of the match.
Match stats
The table (below) is compiled from the live match commentry. Some of the figures differ from Sky’s stats, which can be found at the bottom of the match report here.
Ben Thatcher’s most notable contribution to the game has been specially added.
Match reports
City 0 Portsmouth 0 (MEN)
Thatcher’s efforts provided by far the most noteworthy incident of the game which City, in front of the lowest crowd for a Premiership game at Eastlands, dominated without ever really looking like making the decisive breakthrough
Redknapp demands Thatcher penalty (Telegraph)
Redknapp said: “I know that the referee has taken action by booking Thatcher, but the FA have got to look at the incident. When I saw Thatcher running towards Mendes, I knew exactly what was going to happen five seconds before it did.
Thatcher’s crashing challenge puts Mendes in hospital (Independent)
David James need have had no worries about being seen as the bad guy on his first return to the club which sold him earlier this month.
Pompey frustrate City (Sky)
Chances were few and far between, with both defences very much on top for the 90 minutes
Thatcher is shamed by ugly assault on Mendes (Times)
As he lay unconscious on the ground, Mendes suffered a fit before being carried off on a stretcher five minutes later and straight to hospital as paramedics administered oxygen and connected him to a drip