Venue: Home Park

Attendance: 5318 

Visitors: 753   Retn miles: 345

Reports and Reaction:

PAFC Official Site | PASOTI |

Vital Plymouth | This is Plymouth |

Opposition Sites

Last time at Home Park

11 August 1998 (FL Cup)  Att:4380

Argyle 1 Portsmouth 3

Team: Sheffield, Collins, Gibbs, Mauge, Heathcote, Wotton, Barlow, McCarthy, Jean, Power, Hargreaves.

Goals: McCarthy

Pompey’s woes chime with Argyle, but not on the pitch. The 2012-13 season began, unusually, with a League Cup match, and perhaps more remarkably with a rare win – only the club’s third in two decades. A youthful Pompey side hamstrung by Administration arrived at Home Park fielding nine players aged 18 or under in their starting XI. Despite 6 summer signings and 5 departures or retirements, Argyle started with just two debutants - Wolves’ Northern Ireland international loanee Johnny Gorman and returning trialist Andres Guerreri. The visitors battled well on a rainy evening but fell behind just before half time to a fine goal from Gorman, who cut in from the left to unleashed a powerful shot. Carl Fletcher swapped Joe Lennox for Guerreri at the break, but a tighter second half followed, with the Argyle appearing to settle for their lead. However, the game was put out of reach late on; debutant Paris Cowan-Hall, on for Matt Lecointe, flicked home Maxime Blanchard’s header and just two minutes later Nick Chadwick smashed home Lennox’s cross to send Argyle into the rare, unchartered waters of Round 2. Portsmouth and their 753 away fans deserve far better - the league season starts in earnest on Saturday, although it might not always be this straightforward.