Pompey 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1: Neil Allen's verdict
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00:00Greetings from Hillsborough where Pompey's season has finished on the road anyway, and they've got a point, which bearing in mind how dreadful Pompey on the road this season, they're now undefeated in the last two games away from home.
00:15There's a positive spin, isn't it? A strange old day really, one all draw to Pompey. I think what was most interesting was the fact that Messina made five changes, two in force for the match, and we saw Ben Killip in goal for the first time, and we saw a second start for Harvey Blair.
00:36The game was a dead rubber, not a lot happening, Pompey stayed up, that's the most important thing. Strange atmosphere, bearing in mind the protest from Sheffield-Wesley fans towards their owner, Chan-Ciri, which is very similar to Chan-Roy, isn't it?
00:53Yeah, so it was a strange old game really. It wasn't the greatest of watch, not a lot happened, but again I think it's all about Killip and Blair.
01:03Blair started on the right wing in place of Matt Ritchie. He's lightweight, isn't he? We know that, we've seen that, he gets knocked off the ball far too easily.
01:14There is a player in there, isn't there really? And he scored on his Pompey second start.
01:23Geoff Murphy put the ball in from the left, and he put it on the plate really, and Blair obviously had made the run, and he was there to crash it home at the far post to level for Pompey,
01:35who had fallen behind in the ninth minute. And John Messina said afterwards that after the goal, Blair was absolutely exhausted, and that's why he came off early in the second half.
01:48We saw that fall with Waddingham actually, at Coventry, he was obviously exhausted after the first half. Youngsters stepping up to this level,
01:56it's difficult, isn't it, physically, and what's required in terms of the intensity and fitness, and he struggled in the end.
02:06But his time will come, very early from the season. Wanted the future, wasn't he?
02:11And it was a lovely moment for the lad, because he sat on our table at the Pompey end of season do, and he sat next to Andy Moon and Jordan as well,
02:19and they were chatting to him a lot, and they were saying what a lovely lad he is, really chatty, level-headed, very eloquent, and just so wants to do well for this football club.
02:29So it was a nice moment for the lad to score that goal, wasn't it? It's been a frustrating season for him, but he's still very, very young, isn't he?
02:36He's just stepped up from academy football to the championship, which is a big leap, isn't it, for anyone there.
02:43So that was a nice moment for him. Ben Killip as well was a really interesting one.
02:47Do you understand this? He just wanted to have a look at him. They see him in training, but they want to see how he performs in a match situation.
02:53So, first time he's ever been in the Pompey squad, despite arriving in January.
02:58Obviously, Jordan Arch is normally the keeper on the bench, and Smid is completely the number one.
03:03So he wanted to have a look at Killip, and he was really impressed with him. He was impressed with his calmness, how he handled himself.
03:10And there was a really nice moment in the first half where the ball over the top, and he actually controlled it very calmly with a player in at him,
03:17and just passed it to, I think it was a shot on his seat to his left.
03:20Didn't panic. Took his time. Didn't look nervous at all. And I thought, that looked well. All did well.
03:27So we had a look at him today. But it was just a game of nothing, really. Pompey didn't play badly, didn't play wonderful.
03:35They were okay. Same with Sheffield Wednesday. And it's a point on the road for Pompey.
03:42The season's over, isn't it, for Pompey? But it's just a chance to have a look at players as well.
03:47Of the players on display, I thought Devlin was man of the match.
03:52I thought Potts struggled. He's played exceptionally well in recent weeks, hasn't he?
03:57Great to see Shocknessy there. Shocknessy came off at half-time, but John Messina said after the game, don't worry about that.
04:03That was planned. It was always planned that Shocknessy had come off at half-time.
04:07There's no injury set back. He's absolutely fine. And it's all part of building him up, back into first-team minutes,
04:14and then coming back in the pre-season. The idea is he doesn't come back completely behind everyone else in pre-season.
04:21Let's give him some minutes now. And that's what today was. He played four minutes against Watford, and today he played until half-time.
04:28So, no worries there about Shocknessy. And that was another encouraging moment, him coming back as well.
04:34So, yeah, decent day. By the way, I love the old songs from the Pompey fans in the second half.
04:43Ben Gianni and Co. It's nice to hear as well, because otherwise the atmosphere, like I say, was absolutely dead.
04:49Dear me. But the Pompey fans liven it up. So, everyone's happy with a point, really.
04:54And we move on. And people like Kylip and Blair have their moments, don't they?
05:00So, yeah, long journey back now. And on to Hull, the Fratton Park, the final game of the season. Thank you.