First half goals from
Dennis and Evans saw Portsmouth to a comfortable victory over Southend United
at Roots Hall, booking their place in the Quarter-Finals of the Checkatrade
Trophy in the process.
It didn’t take long for the League One leaders to get their
noses in front when barely two minutes had elapsed when Smith’s right-wing
cross was headed in off the bar by Dennis, and it kind of set the tone for the
evening.
Lethbridge then fired over from eighteen yards before the
visitors created an even better chance to double their lead when Wheeler
dragged wide when clean through on goal, but the visitors had totally dominated
the opening half hour or so.
The hosts did then create a decent opening when a free-kick from
Kightly to Cox saw the latter tee up Robinson and his cross-shot across goal saw
them fail to convert at the far post, but the visitors continued to have the
better of the game and saw a Burgess header cleared off the line down the other
end.
The Blues first effort on target saw a White effort held by
Bass, but in first half stoppage time Pompey doubled their lead when Evans drilled
home a first-time effort from the edge of the area to send the visitors into
the break with a comfortable two-goal lead.
Half Time Southend
United 0 Portsmouth 2
The hosts made a double change at the start of the second period
to try and change things up as it had not been a good performance so far, with
Dieng and McLaughlin coming on for Kightly and Cox respectively, whilst the
dominant visitors replaced Green with Read.
It didn’t really have the desired effect though and saw the
visitors send another effort at the hosts goal through Dennis, but Smith was
equal to the effort, and things got worse for the home side when Taylor Moore
went off injured, adding to their already bulging injury list.
May then fired over for Pompey in what was a great chance to
make it three, but despite the hosts rallying late on, their best effort came
from McLaughlin who fired over after swapping passes with Bunn, the visitors
never really looked in any danger and cruised into the Last Eight of the
competition.
Full Time Southend United
0 Portsmouth 2
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