City stunned by Portsmouth

The up and down season of Man City took another downturn as they lost to Portsmouth 2-0 today at Fratton Park. The defeat costs Mark Hughes' side a perfect opportunity to climb up the table and bolsters the Pompey effort away from the relegation zone.

The most notable change in the lineup was the inclusion of twenty year-old Shaleum Logan getting his first chance in the starting eleven at right back as well as Elano moving in for Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Portsmouth immediately showed resolve and both Peter Crouch and David Nugent threatened in the first ten minutes. With nary an attack to speak of yet by the Citizens and certainly none of the magic that Robinho and Elano showed for Seleção mid-week, Portsmouth continued to show the iniative till the break. Pompey should have had the lead eight minutes after the break when David Nugent broke clear in on Shay Given but his finish was lacking and City dodged the bullet. Looking for some attacking resolve Mark Hughes called upon Felipe Caicedo for Robinho seven minutes past the hour but the match took a turn for the worse for the Citizens only three minutes later. Coming in the from the right Glen Johnson's first effort was saved by Shay Given but the talented England international collected the rebound and sent it into the net. Looking for a response Mark Hughes was disappointed only five minutes later when Jermaine Pennant was nodded in by Hermann Hreiðarsson to bring the match to a 2-0 scoreline.

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. Wales international Ched Evans came on for Pablo Zabaleta with eleven minutes remaining and although City pressed David James, the Portsmouth 'keeper appearing in his his 536th Premier League match, was up to the task and the match ended with a 2-0 defeat.

Following the match Mark Hughes commented:

"Today's performance was not anywhere near the level we needed to be.

"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."