Third Division Leyton Orient came from behind to book their place in the
fourth round of the FA Cup and heap yet more misery on underfire Portsmouth
manager Graham Rix.
The visitors smashed in four superbly-worked goals to scrub out Pompey's early
opener as the Brisbane Road side pulled off what has to go down as one of the
shocks of third round weekend.
The First Division side seemed to be sailing to a comfortable win after Os
captain Dean Smith had put the ball past his own keeper under pressure from
leading scorer Peter Crouch with just 12 minutes played.
But Smith, who was only deemed fit enough to play half an hour before the
match, made amends for that indiscretion when he brought the sides level two
minutes into the second half.
He left Pompey's Japanese goalkeeper, Yoshi Kawaguchi, stranded with a
blistering 25-yard free-kick after Wayne Gray had been fouled by home captain
Scott Hiley.
The visitors took the lead less than 20 minutes later when striker Steve Watts
seized on a moment of madness from Kawaguchi before neatly slotting the ball
into the back of the net.
Kawaguchi was made to pay for his moment of hesitancy when Watts knocked the
ball out of his hands and into the net after the Japanese international had
taken too long to collect a fairly routine looking clearance.
Two became three 13 minutes before time when Gray beat Hiley to the ball on
the edge of the area before hammering a well-struck shot beyond Kawaguchi and
into the net to put the tie beyond the beleaguered home side.
Just to add insult to injury for Rix's side, substitute Iyseden Christie then
added a fourth for the visitors five minutes into stoppage time.
The former Coventry striker, making his first appearance for 16 months, was
left with the simple task of smashing the ball home after midfielder Jeff Minton
had beat the Pompey offside trap before sending his team-mate clear.
The defeat is set to spark still more speculation about Rix's future with
director of football and former West Ham manager Harry Redknapp ready to take
over the reins.
Pompey have now lost five of their last six matches and are without a win
since an unconvincing win over Nottingham Forest at the end of November.
Teams:
Portsmouth: Kawaguchi, Tiler, Hiley (Crowe 81), Primus, Harper,
Prosinecki, Quashie, Pitt, O'Neil (Derry 69), Crouch, Lovell.
Subs Not Used: Tardif, Vincent, Barrett.
Booked: Quashie.
Goals: Smith 12 og.
Leyton Orient: Barrett, Smith, Dorrian (Barnard 45),
Leigertwood, Jones, McGhee, Harris, Minton, Martin,
Watts (Christie 88), Gray (Ibehre 90).
Subs Not Used: Canham, Morris.
Booked: Gray.
Goals: Smith 48, Watts 66, Gray 77, Christie 90.
Att: 12,936
Ref: P Prosser (Innsworth).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook