Portsmouth 0 Newcastle 0
PERHAPS it was because the sun was shining, perhaps it was because neither Newcastle nor Portsmouth got out of first gear. Either way, this certainly felt like an end of season game.
No goals, no urgency and precious little incident - this was two teams with their minds on other things.
Newcastle, with their Premier League status all but guaranteed on the back of three successive wins, were thinking of the forthcoming summer break. Portsmouth, still basking in the glory of last weekend's Wembley win over West Brom, were looking forward to the FA Cup final. The upshot was a match of limited excitement.
Newcastle's new-look three-man attack rarely threatened the Portsmouth goalmouth, although Michael Owen was unfortunate to see his second-half strike hit David James in the face and deflect to safety over the crossbar.
James knew little or nothing about the save, but it still saved his blushes following an error-strewn display in which he completely missed the ball in the first half and threw a clearance straight at Geremi in the second.
Steve Harper did rather better at the other end, producing the save of the game to turn Jermain Defoe's goalbound effort around the post.
Defoe's shot was Pompey's best effort - partly because the rest of their attacking play faltered in the central third, and partly because referee Phil Dowd refused to award a penalty when Kanu's first-half shot deflected off Steven Taylor's foot and hit the centre-half on the arm.
Dowd's decision not to point to the spot was the right one, but the referee's overall display was every bit as poor as the rest of the game. If this is the way things are going to be in the remaining four games of Newcastle's season, roll on mid-May.
7:37pm Saturday 12th April 2008
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