Portsmouth v Manchester City Saturday February 14, 2009, 3.00pm Fratton Park - Att: 20,018 Portsmouth: James, Johnson, Distin, Campbell, Basinas (Mullins 66), Davis, Hreidarsson, Kranjcar, Pennant (Belhadj 86), Crouch, Nugent. unused subs: Begovic, Pamarot, Utaka, Kanu, Gekas, Belhadj. City: Given, Logan, Kompany (c), Onuoha, Bridge, De Jong, Zabaleta (Evans 79), Ireland, Elano, Robinho (Caicedo 66) , Bellamy. unused subs: Hart, Garrido, Fernandes, Berti, Weiss. Goals: 1-0 (Johnson 70), 2-0 (Hreidarsson 75) Bookings Portsmouth: City: De Jong (19), Bellamy (86) Referee: L Probert Pre-Match An injury to Micah Richards meant that Shaleum Logan came in for his first Premier League start at right back, the youngster having started two Carling Cup ties last season. Elsewhere, Elano came in for Shaun Wright-Phillips in the other change from the XI that started v Boro. The Match It was a chilly day on the south coast, but nowhere near the sub-zero temperatures that called this fixture off just over a month ago. A loyal City contingent had made the long journey south, with today’s trip hampered by a snarl-up on the roads leading into Portsmouth. They gave David James a warm ovation when it was announced that today’s game was his 536th Premier League appearance, a new record. Our first nervy moment came on eight minutes, when a corner eventually fell to Pennant, whose run into the box was stopped by Zabaleta. The ball span away to Crouch, but from near the penalty spot he put his shot straight at Shay Given. Within a minute the hosts had another good chance, David Nugent breaking across the box and trying to beat the City keeper from a tight angle, but the former Preston striker could not find the target. City asserted themselves better after these chances, with Bellamy a persistent threat and Elano rifling a shot from outside the box over the bar on 21 minutes. Just past the midway point Nugent broke through again, and this time it was a much closer-run thing, Given finger-tipping the ball away after racing to the edge of the box. Peter Crouch was denied by well-timed Kompany challenge inside the box on 25 minutes, and at the other end Nedum Onuoha put a header from a free kick straight at his former team mate David James. The hosts looked nervous, with any slight mistake adding to the home fans’ apprehensions. City won it back on 34 minutes, the move ending when Elano cut in from the right and put a powerful shot into James’ bread-basket. The Brazilian’s free kick from around 30 yards out with three minutes to the break gave us our next chance, but it was a tame effort that James had no problems with. Glen Johnson had the first chance of the second half, the right back wriggling into space after a corner to drill in a low shot that Given collected with ease. But on 53 minutes Nugent spurned the best chance of the game, beating the offside trap to go one-on-one with the City keeper, only to make a hash of the finish, his shot from an angle rolling across the face of goal and a long way wide of the post. City were patient and content to probe for an opening, with their next chance coming when Craig Bellamy fired over with a first-time shot following a knock-down from Stephen Ireland. Pompey still pressed, with a late deflection taking a decent effort from Crouch wide of Given’s left post. But with 20 minutes to go the home side went ahead. Glen Johnson cut in from the right and shook off Bridge to shoot at Given; the keeper parried the effort, but the Pompey right back collected the rebound and placed the ball past Given and into the far corner of the net. That lifted the hosts and the home fans, and five minutes later they had more reason to cheer when Pompey doubled the lead. A corner swung in from the far side was met by Hermann Hreidarsson, who got in front of Kompany to power an unstoppable header past a helpless Given. Ched Evans and Felipe Caicedo had replaced Zabaleta and Robinho as time began to run out, and the former came close to getting one back on 84 minutes, but his header from a Logan cross was denied by a superb save from David James. Craig Bellamy went into Lee Probert’s book on 86 minutes after clashing with Hreidarsson, but the striker was amazed to be shown the yellow card. Johnson moved into the box in the last minute of normal time, but Shaleum Logan did superbly to clear his shot off the line. Things got heated in stoppage time, with the home fans trying to get Bellamy sent off following a clash with Belhadj. A City corner came to nothing, with Evans’ header falling harmlessly wide, and that was the last real chance of the game. Another away defeat had seen City spurn the chance of climbing into seventh place.

A disappointed Mark Hughes says that a lack of battling qualities was key to Saturday's defeat at Fratton Park.

Second
half goals from Glen Johnson and Hermann Hreidarsson kept City in ninth
place, and the Manager accepted that the overall display was not up to
scratch

"Today's performance was not anywhere near the level we
needed to be," he said. "You have got to roll your sleeves up when you
come to places like this to battle for what you , and on occasions we
were lacking in that respect.

"You have got to be strong and
stand up to the challenge, but we allowed them to take the initiative.
You will concede goals as a result of that, and this is the hardest
league in the world. At times we forget that, certainly away from home.

"Other
teams will not allow you to play, not allow your technically gifted
players to have an influence on the game. You have to find another way,
get a performance from within and take something from every
performance. Today was a performance where some players did not perform
to their capabilities, and that is a frustration for everybody.

"This was a setback, but we have to pick ourselves up and make sure we are in better shape for our upcoming games."

City
were forced into a change when Micah Richards dropped out with an
injury, this allowing Shaleum Logan to start his first Barclays Premier
League game.

Hughes adds, "Micah went over on his ankle on
Friday, had it treated and we did not expect it to be a problem. But he
woke up with a problem this morning, failed a fitness test and that put
us on the back foot. But that said, Shaleum came in and did very well,
he was brave and his performance was a bright point of the game."