Paul Merson stunned by ‘massive’ moment in Portsmouth v Millwall
Portsmouth passed up a “massive” opportunity to take the lead against Millwall on Tuesday night, according to Paul Merson.
The former Pompey hero, covering the match at Fratton Park live from the Sky Sports studio (28 January, 20:11), bemoaned a terrific chance for primary frontman Colby Bishop to open the scoring in the rearranged clash from November.
The Blues’ home form has been excellent of late in stark contrast to their fate on their travels, but they were also very fortunate not to go behind in the opening stages as Raees Bangura-Williams missed from two yards out.
“Massive chance for Portsmouth,” Merson exclaimed, though initially thought Callum Lang attempted the effort towards goal after he had blazed over five minutes beforehand.
“Murphy goes down the left and it gets to [Bishop] about six yards out, he goes to swing at it and sort of completely misses the ball.
“This was a big, big chance.”
Portsmouth and Millwall fans both hoping for calm survival
There are plenty of similarities and plenty of differences between Portsmouth and Millwall, who undergo ‘take two’ of the Fratton fixture between the two after power failure denied the supporters their game back in November.
Pompey fans are recently heading home from PO4 overjoyed with a dominant performance and usually a convincing win, but are left exasperated at the immense drop-off in performance levels away from home.
Millwall are inconsistent while capable, and have more Championship experience in their ranks than Pompey but have flagged since the second departure of Neil Harris.
The Lions headed into this game five points above Pompey, with John Mousinho’s men looking to steer clear of a bitter survival battle and vie for mid-table.
Alex Neil is attempting to establish his team to continue as a Championship side and eventually regain the chance to push for the top six, an ambition which will hopefully be familiar to those at Pompey in good time.
In other Portsmouth news, Peter Storrie opens up on his stories as former chief executive at Fratton Park.
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