During the 2009 pre-season period some of the UPFC boys took part in the crossbar challenge. Here is the video for your viewing pleasure.

The last few will be on sale in the Union shop at the start of Semester 2 for a cut price of £4 – a great way to keep yourself organised next year!

A convincing away win against Roehampton University Mens 1st team for the UPFC Mens 2nd team helped to put them back at the top of the league. This game demanded a performance to send a message to the rest of the league that the 2nd teams defeat to the UPFC 3rd team was a mere blip in what can only be described as a dominant start to the season so far.

With the rain pouring down in the hours prior to kick-off the pitch was in poor condition, however Bruce Suraci rallied his team and sent them out fired up and eager to play. Early on Chris Morris in centre midfield showed great skill passing the ball well and winning free kicks. Portsmouth looked dangerous from set pieces with Tom Rowe winning all sorts of headers from free kicks and throw ins. Portsmouth were able to prevent any real threat getting to Andrew Stass in goal with a superb last-ditch, sliding tackle by left back James Regan to keep the score at 0-0.

Jamie Brown on corner duty from the left hand side whipped in a corner met by Chris Musgrove who leapt like a salmon to bullet home a header for the inaugural goal. Centre back Dave Houlders demonstrated great awareness and played to the passing checklist to find striker Matt Whiteford, who played a through ball into the path of Dan Aiden; striker Lee Fisher found himself space in the box for when the cut back came to him. 2-0 Portsmouth. It wasn’t long until the third goal went in with a one-two played between Scott Gibson and Matt Whiteford just outside the box that Whiteford bent around the oncoming keeper. Lee Fisher claimed his second goal of the game after a shot hit the post and fell kindly to his feet for a simple finish to take a 4-0 lead into the half-time break.

The second half saw an unchanged Portsmouth team take to the field and a Roehampton side that had been issued some more than stern words by their coach who was happy for all to hear his opinions. An awesome leap by left back James Regan saw him out jump a player nearly twice his size to win a header, twice, and the UPFC midfielders continued to boss the park and create chances showing that Portsmouth were not content with a 4-0 victory. Jamie Brown managed to cleverly round the keeper and composed himself to neatly tuck in his first of the game after some first-class attacking play for the 5th goal. Lee Fisher was also denied his hat-trick when the ball had bounced off the referee straight to his feet. Jamie Brown was gifted the chance to double his goal tally with a chance from 6 yards, straight from a perfect cross in the corridor of uncertainty from Dan Aiden, however Brown somehow sent it wide of the target. The Roehampton goalkeeper had picked up an injury during the 5th goal was replaced.

Centre back Dave Houlders drove forward with a penetrating dribble into the box with defenders falling at his feet still managed to look up and cut it back, only for the D.O.D. Matt Whiteford to send it over the bar from ten yards.

The introduction of Matt Humphreys and Jamie Eyre refreshed the midfield that had been working diligently on the less than perfect pitch to create as many chances as they had and Dan Wetton came on at right back offering support on the wing. Roehampton countered after Chris Musgrove played a brilliant through ball, only to the wrong teams’ striker, which was again well recovered by James Regan. A second goal was disallowed for another deflection off of the referee, this time to deny Matt Whiteford his chance to redeem his earlier miss. Matt Humphreys soon got on the score sheet with a deft touch inside the six yard box off a low drilled cross from the byline after some more impressive interplay by the Portsmouth side.

The dying seconds of the game saw Chris Musgrove dispatch a second headed goal, again from a corner this time delivered by Chris Morris, that wrapped up an impressive 7-0 score line and took the 3 points for the Portsmouth 2nd Team.

After an enthralling victory against the mighty 2nds last week, the Pompey thirds were absolutely buzzing and morale was at an all time high. However, with the news of three key players missing from the same side, some motivational words were needed by the skip who had selflessly opted to drop himself for the game. BUCS league debuts were handed to two boys and starting positions for three others, so the line-up looked considerably different to the previous week, nevertheless just as capable.

After an early bright spell Portsmouth took a quick lead. A direct, beautiful swept ball into the box from Tom Wyatt (dubs) from a free kick, found an un-marked Pritchard in the box, needless to say, the ball ended up top bins, thanks to a good header. With an early lead, the threes looked well set. However, 10 minutes later and the Brighton boys had equalized. After a mishap on the left, the ball was whipped across and hit an unsuspected Folan in the chest who had tried to control the ball. Unfortunately, Folan only managed to place the ball directly into the opposite number 9’s path. A cool finish later past Greenwood and the game was back on level terms. Sadly, within another two minutes things went from bad to worse. Pritchard on a gallivanting run down the middle got dispossessed, the ball pumped high towards our penalty box. Greenwood called it early yet didn’t see the incoming striker bearing down on him. After a missed catch and a couple of flaps at the ball, the opposition’s striker had the easiest of tap ins. Needless to say, our heads went down. Yet, for the next 20 minutes until the half finished, the boys put in a solid finish.

A few well placed and challenging words were said at half time from the coach and skipper, and the boys went out with their heads held high and the fire back in the team. The 2nd half started slowly, Portsmouth showing more composure and gaining more of a rhythm. With chances starting to appear it was only a matter of time before one paid off. With one of their attacks broken down, the ball fell to Dubs who looked up and found the left winger early. After a quick 1-2, Ebun released Emmanuel into the box to slot the equalizer in. Not the most convincing of finishes (Emmanuel claims he ‘did him with the eyes’) as the keeper seemed to dive over the ball! With 20 minutes left, the game was there for the taking. Yet once again after a lapse at the back, Brighton found themselves again in the lead. After some sloppy defending, the opposition’s striker found himself in the box with the ball at his feet. After a scramble of last ditch challenges from Dubs and Parry, the ball ricocheted into the oncoming midfielders feet who smashed the ball past a helpless Greenwood. 3-2 down with ten minutes to go, things started to get desperate. The skip brought Seany on at left-mid, and soon after himself on at right-mid. With every opportunity, Pompey looked to put the ball in the box to allow the boys up top to do their damage. However no clear chances came and the final whistle unfortunately did.

Neither team deserved to win or lose. A fair result would have been a draw, yet on the day, the result didn’t come. A much improved performance needed for the first cup game next week.

The UPFC Men’s 1st team continued their fine form in cup and league with a comfortable 5-0 win over Royal Holloway 1st team. Following our great start to the league campaign, confidence was high although the players knew that this could potentially be a tricky game if we weren’t focused and didn’t carry the same mentality in previous games out perfect record could become history.

Tom Lloyd announced the team and then a good warm up took place, with Tom Lloyd quizzing the players on their own individual jobs to make sure everyone knew what was expected of them.

The game kicked off and immediately Pompey started well with good passing and link up play and immediately Holloway were on the back front. Within the first ten minutes we took the lead with great play from Matt Barker driving into the opposition half, sliding through a clever ball to Matt Parsons who timed his run perfectly and with a massive deflection from his shot somehow found the net .This goal settled Pompey down and the confidence grew even more, everyone wanted the ball and soon after the second goal arrived. Great work down the right from Richard Maltby overlapping Josh Warren to get on the ball down the right wing, his cross was perfect for Andy Younie who controlled it and with great composure slotted the ball pass the keeper for 2-0.

Pompey had settled into their usual passing game making the opposition change the ball, we already knew the game was won, our passing was flawless and there was good link up play between the midfield and strikers that was causing Holloway lots of problems. The next goal came from good build up play down the left hand side, Michael Dunnet played a great channel line ball, who found Josh Warren who cut inside and shot from just outside the box and found the top corner making it 3-0 Pompey.

The defence was keeping any threat that Holloway had at bay and the game was all being played in the Brighton half. Pompey were starting to get a lot of corners and with Josh Warren’s delivery perfect Kieron Lewis and Ryan Duffy were becoming ever closer to opening their accounts for today.

As the first half was coming to end there were already some performances to shout about, Dan Cox and Matt Barker’s work rate and ball play was excellent, James potton’s creativity in and round the box was making life difficult for Holloway’s defence and Michael Asare who came on for the injured Matt Parsons was showing the local crowd his outrageous ball dribbling capabilities. The half time whistle went and Pompey were very satisfied with their performance a comfortable 3-0 lead and lots of positives to take from it. At half time Tom Lloyd decided to bring on fresh legs with Tom agate replacing Dan Cox in the heart of midfield.

The second half began much like the first with Pompey in control, passing the ball well and making Holloway work very hard to get it back.

Pompey were hungry for more goals and after 20 minutes of the second half the goal arrived, a mix up in the Holloway midfield allowed Michael Asare to steal the ball and play a perfect through ball for Andy Younie who passed the ball across to James Potton who had the simple task of passing the ball into the empty net.

Fewer chances were created in the second half with Pompey dictating from the back and soaking up any pressure Holloway through at them.

Pompey finally got there last goal with great play down the right hand side with Richard Maltby receiving the switch pass from Kieron Lewis, who drove pass the Holloway left winger who found Josh Warren on the touch line, who crossed the ball to Andy Younie and with great individual skill, swivelled and found the bottom corner.

The final whistle went and another very good performance from Pompey, Scoring Five goals and keeping another clean sheet and more importantly staying top of the league with an important away trip to fellow leaders Sussex next week.

A first half of thrills and spills sees the 3rds prevail to an inspired victory to see off the 2nds to collect three points and go top of the league.

With all of the Portsmouth football teams playing at home on Wednesday and many important matches to be played, there was no doubt which match was the game of the day and many had come to adorn the sidelines to watch this highly anticipated contest unfold. With the 2nds and 3rds in the same league and holding positions one and two in the league table respectively, the winner of this game would claim top spot in the table.

The first fifteen minutes saw both teams battling for control of the game as they looked to assert their dominance over each other. The 2nds had thought they had taken the lead after a strike by Dan Spencer was disallowed as the referee had adjudged that there had been a hand ball en route to goal, but the decision was only made after a hesitant consultation with the linesman. Minutes after, smart interplay by Gary (Jesus) Atkinson and Sean Gadsby, saw Gary cleverly back heel the ball for Gadsby’s cultured left foot to run onto to deliver a dream cross into the corridor of uncertainty for Emmanuel Andoh to meet with his head and find the back of the net with simplicity. A wake up call for the 2nds to get into the game and to find some guile and craft in the final third. Bruce Suraci’s men had played some neat team moves, especially down the wings with full backs Chris Musgrove and Dan Wetton getting high up the field to cause problems. Through their endeavour, an equaliser was fashioned in a somewhat controversial manner as the 3rds centre half Ross Porter had appeared to have been fouled in his own box by Rob Fricker, leaving a loose ball to be fired into the back of the net by Dan Wetton. Despite appeals, the goal stood and the game was levelled. But not for long. Soon after, the awareness and industry of Matt Whiteford lead him to play a through pass into the path of his fellow forward partner Emmanuel Andoh to latch onto. Andoh took the bobbling ball into to his stride and with Tom Rowe and David Houlders in his wake and the oncoming goal keeper Andrew Stass looking to close him down. The forward superbly looped the ball over the head of Stass from twenty yards to leave him helpless as the ball bounced into a gaping net and for Andoh and Pompey 3rds to grab their second goal. Emmanuel Andoh had threatened to score a hat trick just before the close of the 1st half, with two deft touches to beat his man which set him for a powerful strike from twenty five yards which was destined for the top corner; however the ball was marvellously tipped around the post by Andrew Stass to the disbelief of many onlookers. Definitely one for the cameras.

A change of half came with a change of weather as rain started to descend on the pitch. The soft surface made it difficult for the players to find their footing, which wasn’t conducive for flowing football to be played. The 2nds adopted a long ball tactic in the last twenty minutes of the game in a bid to salvage something but nothing was forthcoming. Nick Pritchard was a leader at the back winning many headers to clear the danger. Scott Gibson and Chris Mason did brilliantly for the 3rds to win the midfield battle and had the better of that part of the field; they used the ball efficiently and pressed the opposition well. Both teams had come close to changing the score line as Lee Fisher and Gary Atkinson both hit the woodwork and Matt Whiteford going agonisingly close with efforts in the dying stages of the game. Changes were made late on, with Mike Goulden being brought on to sure things up in the midfield and to act as an insurance policy in front of the defence. The togetherness and the desire displayed by Pompey 3rds saw them claim 3 points and bragging rights in this hot contest.

After three weeks unbeaten, today’s game did not start as fast paced as previous weeks, taking Portsmouth some 15 minutes to get into the flow of the game. When they finally started to produce some high tempo, attractive one-touch play, gaps began to open and chances arose with a few efforts coming from outside of the box but not really threatening.

The first half progressed like this with Pompey having most of the possession, just unable to create the chances, leaving the first half at 0-0.

From the second half, Pompey knew that they needed to both remain composed and lift their game. However, they found themselves under some pressure from Brighton, with Sally-Anne Thompson having to come off of her line and swiftly gather up potentially threatening balls from the Brighton midfield. This, alongside solid defending from the Pompey back four, kept the game level.

Then, with a passage of good play from the home side, a ball was played into Gemma Hillier’s feet, where she looked up and played a high lofted shot that hit the post and the crossbar before crossing the line, giving Pompey the lift that they needed from the game.

Following this, another spell of good possession and quick-play within the midfield, a frustrated Brighton side gave away a free kick. Here, with an early shout, Rosie Bidder, played a ball through space, meeting a great run by Gemma, where the striker was able to pick up the ball. Gemma then made a dashing run toward goal where she coolly and calmly placed the ball into the bottom corner of the goal, giving Pompey a 2-0 lead.

Later, with Portsmouth becoming defensively quiet across the pitch, following a Brighton attack, a soft penalty was given for a handball, when the home side themselves had had two penalty shouts dismissed by the referee for both a handball and foul in the box. Here though, Brighton smashed the ball cleanly into the back of the net bringing the game to a more disconcerting 2-1.

Portsmouth, having found themselves needing to defend a lead rather than chase one like in previous weeks, became a bit scrappy trying to push play in order to regain a comfortable lead, allowing Brighton to capitalise on the space left and cross the ball into the box from the wing. Where on one of the occasions, a crossed ball caught an unfortunate deflection and hit the back of Pompey’s net producing an own goal, and a 2-2 score line.

Pompey continued to press for victory but it was not their day, as, though the home side had the greater possession of the ball and missed some great chances at the away end, the score remained 2-2. However, the girls are still unbeaten in the league and will not let this weeks annoyances affect their performance next week.

Wednesday BUCS Leagues

Women’s 1st Team have had a fantastic start to their debut season in the BUCS Premier league! They currently sit top of the league and 1 point clear of Brunel having played 3, won 2 and drawn 1. This really has been a great start to their campaign and coach Lee Moyce “could not be happier”!

Women’s 2nd Team have only played one game so far this season – but in that game, they won 2-1 against Kingston 1sts…solid start!

Men’s 1st Team have had a great start to the season and currently sit top of the BUCS South Eastern Conference 2A having played 2 and won 2. They have also beaten University of Brighton Men’s 5th Team 7-0 to reach the second round of the BUCS Cup.

Men’s 2nd Team have had a flying start to the season winning their first two games 7-1 and sitting 2 points clear at the top of the BUCS South Eastern Conference 4A. They have also beaten City University London Men’s 4th Team 6-0 to reach the second round of the BUCS Cup.

Men’s 3rd Team currenlty sit 2nd in the BUCS South Eastern Conference 4A – 2 points behind the 2nd Team having played 2, won 1 and drawn 1. They are also in the second round of the BUCS Cup after receiving a bye in the first round.

Men’s 4th Team have had an unlucky start to the league season having played 1 and lost 1 after being narrowly beaten 4-3 by the London School of Economics 1st Team. They have also beaten the School of Oriental & African Studies Men’s 1st Team 5-3 to reach the second round of the BUCS Cup.

Men’s 5th Team have had an unlucky start to the league season having played 1 and lost 1 after being narrowly beaten 4-2 by the Thams Valley University 1st Team. They were also knocked out of the BUCS Cup after being beaten 4-3 by King’s College London Men’s 4th Team.

Men’s 6th Team currently sit 2nd in the BUCS South Eastern Conference 5C after playing 1 and winning 1. Their match in the BUCS Cup was postponed.

WOMEN’S ROUND UP – Played 4, Won 3, Drawn 1, Lost 0, For 8, Against 3.

MEN’S ROUND UP – Played 13, Won 9, Drawn 1, Lost 3, For 61, Against 23.

Weekend Leagues

Women’s 1st Team have begun their league well and sit 4th in the table. They also stormed through two qualifying rounds of the FA Cup before coming unluckily unstuck just before the 1st Round ‘Proper’. A great effort girls, and a great way to start our debut in the competition.

Women’s 2nd Team currently sit proudly top of their league having played 5 games, winning 4, losing 1 and scoring 15 and conceeding 5 in the process.

Men’s 1st Team have had a fairly unsteady start to the season but have begun to get back to winning ways at the back end of the month. They currently sit a disappointing 4th in the league but hope to shoot up the league in November.

The match was tough for an undefeated Portsmouth side where players were required to be defensively strong and quick on the counter attack.

The game started brightly with Pompey having a lot of possession of the ball and scoring reasonably early with a long kick from Sally Anne Thompson passing the Brunel defence, allowing Helen Bass to run onto and place neatly in the back of the net. Following this, the girls had to work hard to retain their lead; once Brunel gained more possession of the ball, Pompey’s defensive line had to remain disciplined and prevent balls over the top from becoming threatening with great clearances in the air by both Sara Hopes and Kirsty White.

However, just before the stroke of half time, following an attempt just grazing the outside of the post from the edge of the box, Pompey came under some pressure, and with a slight loss of concentration, Brunel scored from a cross in order to bring the game level.

The second half started as high- tempo as the first and both teams were well up for a contest. Pompey began well, using the wings in order to create chances inside the box, meanwhile at the other end, there were some great finger tip saves over the bar from the Pompey keeper Sally-Anne Thompson keeping the game level at 50 minutes.

Then midway through the second half, Gemma Hillier was fouled inside of the box and was able to convert the rebound from her penalty taking Pompey into the lead. Not long after, the game was put comfortably in the hands of the away side; with a great run down the right wing, Rachel Catling was able to place a ball through to the feet of Gemma Hillier, who then shot across goal into the bottom corner to score a second of the game, bringing the score line to 3-1 with about 20 minutes remaining.

From here though, the home side still battled hard and Pompey had to remain calm and just absorb the pressure from the home side and pass the time whilst pursuing the counter attack. In the end however, the away side earned a well deserved victory, to remain undefeated and now top of the league, with a great all-round performance.

After the great result that the team achieved last week, the team went into their first away game with high hopes of coming away with three points. This week the women’s football team were given the tough test of a game with the University of Bath, a university that is well known for their sporting prowess. The start of the journey didn’t provide the best of omens with the Coach Lee Moyce stalling the mini-bus not once, but twice.

After a tour of the Bath University campus, the car park was finally found. By now the team were already running late, and got out onto the pitch with less than half an hour to spare. The warm up was rushed due to the lack of time available and it showed when the match kicked off. The first 10 minutes of the game was very scrappy, with neither team able to keep hold of the ball. As the first half went on Pompey managed to get themselves into the game and play the ball around properly, with centre midfields Flo Lunn and Sarah Wilmer controlling the game. This showed when the passing cut open the bath defence and Victoria Lewis went extremely close with a lob on the Bath keeper. This pattern continued and striker Vicky hit the crossbar and post, as well as going extremely close on several occasions. At the other end of the pitch Bath rarely threatened Pompey’s goal with the back four doing the same job as the previous week and keeping any threats at bay.

Towards the end of the first half right winger Rachel Catling went close with a shot that barely trickled past the post. In Pompey’s half of the pitch a lack of concentration allowed Bath to slide in their striker and it was only some last ditch tackles from Sara Hopes and Lauren Carnell that prevented Portsmouth from going into the break a goal down. With a little bit of tiredness kicking in the game became scrappy again and just before half time Bath managed to capitalise on a mix up in the Pompey defence to create a goal scoring opportunity, but hit the crossbar, came back off it and was cleared by one of the Pompey defenders to relieve the pressure.

At half time Portsmouth had the right to feel aggrieved at the fact that the score was still 0 – 0, but every player knew that the game was there for the taking. When the second half kicked of Pompey were on the back foot as Bath had come out fighting after their poor first half performance. This was no problem to Portsmouth, with both fullbacks Kirstie White and Laura Sharkey stopping crosses from the wide areas. Some good stops from Sally-Anne Thompson in goal and more great challenges from Sara and Lauren prevented Bath from scoring first.

After one of Bath’s attacks Sally-Anne gathered the ball easily and sent a long kick towards Nieshia Boal and Vicky upfront. The Bath centre back misjudged the ball and it bounced straight over her head for Nieshia to head on towards Vicky who hit her shot from outside the area and scored with the ball rifling into the top corner of the net. This only infuriated Bath and they threw everything at Pompey but again, like last week the well organised defence stood firm. With Bath liable to a counter attack Pompey were looking to get the ball up field quickly to try and get that all important second goal to secure the win. This chance came towards the end of the game with Rachel receiving the ball from the back. After dribbling forward she picked out Vicky with a great through ball. Vicky managed to keep her composure to slide the ball under the advancing Bath keeper to score her second goal and secure the win for Pompey. All Portsmouth had to do was see out the remaining minutes which they managed with ease.

Another great team performance with everyone playing as best they can to achieve the result that they wanted.