"When he pulled the trigger, I was thinking: 'This could end up in Row Z of the Fratton End'" – experience has left Steve Cotterill fearing the worst.
After a run of one win in 16 games that has soured the mood at Fratton Park, it is no wonder that when Erik Huseklepp lined up a volley in the 94th minute his manager was struggling for optimism. But the Norway international hooked the ball wonderfully into the top corner to lift the gloom on the south coast.
Off the field at Fratton Park the chaos is over, but the after-effects are still being felt. "In the past six or seven years around half a billion pounds was moving around the club," the new co-owner Roman Dubov said thisweek. "But we don't even have proper toilets in the stadium … this was a nonsense." Lavatorial improvements are on the agenda now at Fratton Park, but matters on the pitch have been of equal concern.
Exactly a year ago, on 24 September 2010, Pompey ignited their season, beating Leicester 6-1 to kick off a run of six wins and a draw that lifted them from rock bottom to mid-table. Another burst of six wins in February and March kept them clear of danger, but they ended the season without a victory in eight games. That malaise has continued into the new campaign, with the side winning just once before this result. Cotterill will hope that lightning strikes twice.
"It's funny, but apart from a bad performance at Hull it hasn't been bad," he said. "The league's very much in its infancy and so is this team. But hopefully that would've done the lads' confidence the power of good."
Portsmouth had often struggled to cope with Blackpool's pace and movement. Gary Taylor-Fletcher's rugged frame belies an exquisite touch and it was his clever through ball that put Matt Phillips clean through after 16 minutes; the winger's shot was well saved by Jamie Ashdown and a similar effort moments later was dragged wide.
Fratton Park, a notoriously noisy place, was strangely subdued, but the terraces were heartened by the home side's start to the second half. Joel Ward zipped a shot narrowly over from distance before Huseklepp found Liam Lawrence with a wonderful crossfield pas, only for the midfielder's shot to be blocked by Matthew Gilks in the Blackpool goal.
That excitement soon melted into murmurs of discontent, with the visitors dominating possession. Ian Holloway's side's failure to turn that dominance into goals goes some way to explaining why the Tangerines' nascent attempt to bounce back into the Premier League at the first attempt has been solid rather than spectacular.
It will be further derailed if they suffer many more suckerpunches like this. With the game deep into injury time Portsmouth launched a last-ditch offensive – Greg Halford flung in a long throw, Blackpool failed to clear and Huseklepp hooked home neatly on the volley.
"They had a long throw, it skids off Ian Evatt's eyebrows and they hook one in the top corner after we dominated possession away from home," said Holloway, who felt his side should have had at least one penalty. "Thirty-five goals I've lost out of my team – I don't think you have to look very hard to see what our problems might be in the future."
