Southampton 1-4 Portsmouth

Posted Sunday, February 14, 2010 by theguardian.com

Southampton 1-4 Portsmouth
Portsmouth's David James had to be at his best – here denying Southampton's Adam Lallana – before his side ran away with their FA Cup tie.

For two-thirds of this fifth-round scrap, there was mounting suspicion that Portsmouth were playing for a replay, for the money they need to avoid Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, as well as Saints fans, winding them up. But then the Premier League paupers scored four times in 20 minutes to rout the cynics, as well as their south-coast rivals.

For a long time – well into the second half – the League One team were superior, and it took a couple of outstanding saves from David James to keep them at bay. Even when Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, on as substitute, opened the scoring after 66 minutes, Southampton hit back almost immediately, with Rickie Lambert's 25th goal of the season, and the final margin was cruel on Alan Pardew and his underdogs after an absorbing, intensely competitive cup tie.

This is not the biggest derby, but it would be hard to find one more rancorous. Local rivalry is always to be expected, but here it manifests itself in a dislike bordering on hatred, and although the atmosphere played its part in rousing both sets of players, some of the noises off were repellent. Peter Storrie, Portsmouth's chief executive, was abused by an ugly mob as he left the stadium.

Perversely, it would please Saints supporters no end if Pompey were to follow the same ruinous road which took Southampton into administration last year, incurring a 10-point deduction. Relegated from the Premier League in 2005, and from the Championship last season, they have stabilised at last in the middle of League One and are starting to progress under Pardew, who has known hard times himself at West Ham and Charlton.

New owners found £3m for him to spend on reinforcements and he appears to have invested it wisely, notably in the £800,000 (the fee could rise incrementally to £1m) for Lambert, who has been rattling them in since joining from Bristol Rovers. No less impressive here was Adam Lallana, the England under-21 midfielder whose skills in no way suffered by comparison with Premier League opposition.

Pardew was without four of his most recent signings, all cup-tied, but nobody would have guessed that deficiency after a first half in which Southampton took the game to their more celebrated rivals. James looked the part as England's No1 in repelling headers from Papa Waigo N'Diaye, a Senegalese on loan from Fiorentina, Wayne Thomas and Lallana at a stage when Portsmouth were vulnerable on both flanks and could neither retain possession for any length of time nor win it back effectively.

The turning point came early in the second half, when Avram Grant withdrew Angelos Basinas, who was having a nightmare in midfield (he looks like Gianfranco Zola but played more like Émile). In his place, Papa Bouba Diop was switched to the holding role and Owusu-Abeyie introduced on the left wing, where he passed Thomas at will, transforming the game.

An Arsenal product, who had five first-team games under Arsène Wenger, Owusu-Abeyie found his way to Portsmouth on loan during the January window via Spartak Moscow, Celta Vigo, Birmingham and Cardiff. Grant says he still has L-plates on ("I like to develop players"), but he looked fully-fledged here, breaking the stalemate with a lovely curling strike, then breaking away in the inside-left channel to set up Aruna Dindane for Pompey's second.

Between times, Lambert restored equality, and upped the decibel level, with a header from Dan Harding's inswinging free-kick, and even when they fell behind again the Saints still nurtured hopes of a replay. They were disabused after 82 minutes, when Jamie O'Hara, the man of the match, sent Nadir Belhadj away for Pompey's third goal before adding the fourth himself with an emphatic finish from near the penalty spot.

Pardew, reasonably enough, felt the scoreline was harsh on his team. "I was very disappointed not to be leading at half-time," he said. "David James was terrific today. Once we conceded the second goal, we chased the game slightly naively, but we can take a lot from this performance. I thought Lallana and Lambert were outstanding."

Grant, who now combines stoical with lugubrious, said of Pompey's stay of execution and their new date with destiny on 1 March: "We will fight until the last moment and fight every minute on the pitch. I have said to my players, like I say to my children: 'When you are having your most difficult time, that's when to show your character.' I'm happy that my team are doing that."