Time for the return fixture against that lot from down the road. This latest installment follows the damp squib that was the game at St Mary’s back in September that of course ended 0-0, with virtually no goalmouth incident. This is an updated version of the blog entry on the last 50 years of the South Coast Derby, in the hope that the red half of Hampshire will be happy come Sunday afternoon. The alternative as usual, doesn’t bear thinking about.

So, 50 years and just 17 derbies.

1975/1976 – Division 2 – Southampton 4 Portsmouth 0 and Portsmouth 0 Southampton 1

April 1976 and Saints had won the FA Cup semi-final a few days earlier and a few players had been out on the piss, namely Peter Osgood, Jim Steele and Jim McCalliog. Lawrie McMenemy was not amused so all three got dropped, which led to a full debut for 17-year-old Steve Williams. Paul Bennett and Pat Earles came in from the fringes of the squad. As said, the significance of this game personally, was that it was the first professional football match I ever went to, aged seven. My dad, in his infinite wisdom, thought it was a good idea to get tickets on the North Terrace, which is of course, not the away end. I don’t remember much about the game apart from being told to keep quiet and the permanent chant of “Channon is a wanker” being shouted by the fans around me.  Having been told to not say very much, it was later that I asked my dad why they were chanting that about Mick Channon, to which he replied “because they haven’t got a player like him son“.  That’s a really good answer for a seven year-old kid isn’t it? Anyhow, the aforementioned Channon scored an 89th minute winner which apparently, meant that Pompey were relegated. Their manager at the time was Ian St John who found more fame after his managerial days were over, as one half of Saint and Greavsie of course.  Pompey getting relegated was completely lost on me, as was the fact that this win completed the double after a 4-0 home win and a Channon hat-trick earlier in the season.  Neither team has done a league double over the other since then.

1984 – FA Cup – Portsmouth 0 Southampton 1

Division 2 Pompey, Division 1 Saints and the team that ultimately came pretty close to doing the double that year. Fair play to Pompey though because they gave us a proper game and if Alan Biley had any idea that it was better to keep shots on the ground rather than shitting himself at the sight of Peter Shilton and blasting them into the Fratton End Row Z, they probably would’ve beaten us. As it was, in an absolutely evil atmosphere which left the lasting impression on 15 year-old me, Biley misses, Peter Shilton takes the goal kick, cleared for a throw, Mark Dennis defies coins being thrown at him and takes the throw to Frank Worthington, who knocks it to David Armstrong, Armstrong crosses and stealing it at the back post is Steve Moran in the last minute. Pandemonium everywhere, flying bricks and glass, non-existent policing. Carnage.

1987 – Division 1 – Portsmouth 2 Southampton 2

With the carnage of 1984 still fresh in the memory, I decided to skip this one at Fratton Park and I missed a relatively entertaining game, in which Pompey took the lead through Vince Hilaire, Colin Clarke equalised and then put Saints in front and had chances for a hat-trick, before Clive Whitehead equalised.

1988 – Division 1 – Southampton 0 Portsmouth 2

A thoroughly miserable game as Pompey secured their first win at the Dell in my lifetime with a 2-0 scoreline with goals from future Saint Barry Horne and Terry Connor. Pompey deserved to win simply because they managed to get the ball on target a couple of times whereas Saints and Colin Clarke in particular, spent the whole game putting the ball anywhere other than between the sticks. Ultimately though, we managed to stay up under Chris Nicholl and Pompey and Alan Ball did not, making a return to division two after one year in the top flight.

1996 – FA Cup – Southampton 3 Portsmouth 0

Played in front of 15,200 packed into the Dell, including 1500 from down the M27 but this game was properly one-sided, so the much lauded Pompey fans didn’t really make much noise, courtesy of two first half tap-in goals from Jim Magilton and a second half third from Neil Shipperley. Matt Le Tissier was absolutely in his pomp in what turned out to be the only derby that he played in, and though he didn’t score, his genius guided Dave Merrington’s Saints to a very comfortable win against Terry Fenwick’s Pompey. This was the first derby that I had been to where one team just didn’t turn up and looked like they just wanted the game to end as soon as it started. It wouldn’t be the last time that happened, however.

2003 – League Cup – Southampton 2 Portsmouth 0

Seven years since the last derby and a similar kind of vibe about it because Pompey totally failed to show up. The teams were in the top division for the first time since 1987/88 and so of course, they got drawn against each other in the League Cup.  It was a comfortable win at St.Mary’s for Saints with James Beattie scoring twice.  The first was a quick reaction to get in and finish off Chris Marsden‘s low cross, which prompted the iconic finger to the ear celebration in front of the travelling fans. The second coming after he got in front of Arjan de Zeeuw and then stopped, causing a barge in the back and a late penalty, seeing the Pompey captain sent off and allowing Beatts to wrap the game up. Nice. Harry Redknapp’s first defeat in a derby and it wouldn’t be his last.

2003 – Premier League – Southampton 3 Portsmouth 0

For a derby that is played so infrequently, it was bizarre to have two in three weeks  Saints went one better in the league, burying another non-performance by Portsmouth by 3-0. Jason Dodd’s corner was headed into his own net by Sebastian Schemmel, Super Marian cut inside from the left onto his right foot and curled ane into the far corner and Beatts was that it again with the last minute diving header from Chris Baird’s cross. Easy and hundred percent derby records maintained for both Strachan and Redknapp.

2004 – Premier League – Portsmouth 1 Southampton 0

In a case of role reversal, Saints decided not to turn up for this one and despite Pompey being in relegation trouble, they dispatched us relatively easily with a goal from Yakubu, after he’d missed a couple of sitters early on. Our defence was all over the place, no doubt caused by Michael Svensson picking up the injury in the warmup that virtually ended his career. Despite being absolutely shit in this game, Saints nearly stole a point in the last minute when Kevin Phillips acrobatically smashed a shot against the inside of the post, but it would’ve been undeserved.  Irritatingly, it began to look like Harry Redknapp was going to keep Pompey away from relegation back to the championship. It was a bad day for Paul Sturrock and he became the first Saints manager to lose to Pompey since Chris Nicholl in 1988.

2004 – Premier League – Southampton 2 Portsmouth 1

Saints at the time were managed by the completely out-of-his-depth Steve Wigley, who Rupert Lowe had already said was not ready to be a manager when Gordon Strachan left, before making him the manager when he sacked Paul Sturrock. Lowe was right in one regard as Wigley had already proved he was useless and had wasted a number of winnable home games before Pompey arrived in town. Pompey took an early lead before Dexter Blackstock equalised for us, with a very fortunate goal which should’ve been disallowed for handball, seeing as that was what he used to control it. Kevin Phillips scored the winner and it turned out to be Steve Wigley’s only win as Saints manager.  Good one to win I guess and it must’ve been pretty embarrassing for Harry Redknapp in the Pompey dugout. More on him later.

2005 – FA Cup – Southampton 2 Portsmouth 1

FA Cup this time and Pompey turned up with a goalkeeper from Greece called Chalkias, who was hilariously bad. He got away with one flying punch where he completely missed the ball because he somehow managed to play Danny Higginbotham offside but regardless, we got to the last minute of the game level with Matt Oakley’s stunning long range goal for us being cancelled out.  Saints got given a penalty and up stepped Peter Crouch to be the unlikely, and somewhat ironic, match winner. Harry Redknapp, by now of course Saints manager, apparently didn’t have much faith in him, though if Harry Redknapp told me that Saints were red and white and Pompey were blue, I would have to check. The Pompey manager was the long forgotten Velimir Zajec, whose initial appointment as director of football at Pompey, had prompted Redknapp’s feud with Milan Mandaric, which led to Rupert Lowe thinking it was a good idea to appoint Redknapp as Saints manager in the first place.

2005 – Premier League – Portsmouth 4 Southampton 1

Saints were in relegation trouble when we showed up at Fratton Park in 2005. We were also in trouble because Harry Redknapp was our manager and so this game was all about him and his return. As  anyone will remember, for Saints it was a day when anything that could’ve gone wrong, did go wrong. Saints were of course completely blown away, 4-1 down within half an hour with a Yakubu penalty, a de Zeeuw header and Lumana Lua Lua back flipping his way through two goal celebrations as Saints just collapsed and usually reliable players like Claus Lundekvam and Antii Niemi had quite possibly the worst games of their career with Henri Camara’s goal for us meaning nothing. Humiliating and embarrassing and thankfully we got to the end of the game without the scoreline being any worse.  Whilst that game did not directly mean that we got relegated, it was a sign that it was absolutely inevitable and so it proved as we finished below Pompey for the first time in my supporting lifetime and it stayed that way for five further years. Cheers for that Harry. And of course we had the “Amarillo”, song ringing in our ears for years to come. Redknapp of course quit after half a season in the Championship and went back to Portsmouth, where they unsurprisingly, all changed their tune about him. He replaced Alain Perrin who actually won this game as Pompey manager, though of course, that gets forgotten because as always, it’s all about Harry. He still holds the record as the manager who lost the most South Coast derbies.

2010 – FA Cup – Southampton 1 Portsmouth 4 *

League 1 Saints at Home to Premier League Portsmouth and a game, which for me, will always have an asterisk against it. Saints played pretty well and drew level through Rickie Lambert after conceding earlier on but then it all fell apart in the last 20 minutes and Pompey ran in three goals to win by a very flattering 4-1…. again. The reason for the asterisk was that everyone knew at the time that Pompey’s ruinous financial decisions from various executives and owners, real and fake was coming home to roost and not long after this game it all become apparent that it was built on sand and they collapsed, nearly went out of business, and ended up down the leagues. I said at the time that I wouldn’t swap out our future for theirs and for a number of years, that was right. Alan Pardew’s Saints put up a decent fight and Pompey manager Avram Grant went for a wank at Horton Heath.

2011 – Championship – Portsmouth 1 Southampton 1

A very average quality game in the Championship that Nigel Adkins’ Saints should’ve won, having gone ahead in the second half through Rickie Lambert. Though we were the better side on paper, we played down to their level and didn’t control things as we should have once ahead. The game was terrible and Pompey eventually scored when a cross wasn’t cleared properly and Joel Ward was the only player who reacted to nod into the net for Michael Appleton’s men. Annoying, but for us it was a decent point towards promotion at the end of the year.

2012 – Championship – Southampton 2 Portsmouth 2

A mental game this was. Billy Sharp put us ahead just before the half hour and we were approaching half time when Chris Maguire scored one of the best goals I’ve ever seen an opposition player score against Saints when he picked the ball up on the left-hand side of the area and with not much danger on the radar, smashed a shot into the near top corner.  We were all settling for a draw in the second half when Billy Sharp put us ahead again with two minutes to go, when an initially disallowed goal was then allowed because it was a Pompey player who flicked the ball on and we were all giving it loads thinking we’d won the game but then of course, David Norris equalised a couple of minutes later, when he connected with a volley from the edge of the box which flew in. That goal  has gone down in history in the minds of Pompey fans as a late winner. An absolute Portsmyth.  I know that scoring late goals to level a game sometimes feels like you’ve won, but the facts remain that that goal was not a winner and achieved absolutely nothing in the bigger picture, which was that Saints got promoted at the end of the season and Pompey got relegated. Having said that, it was still fucking annoying that they basically scored two absolute worldies in the same game and the fact that they still get mileage out of it 14 years later and David Fucking Norris still turns up in the media to talk about it.

2019 – League Cup – Portsmouth 0 Southampton 4

League Cup third round and this time the tables were completely turned with us being the Premier League side and Pompey being in League 1. There was the usual Pompey fuelled narrative before the game about how we wouldn’t fancy Fratton Park and that we were going to wilt horribly and come unstuck. It didn’t turn out that way did it? After a few early scares and some decent goalkeeping by Alex McCarthy, we took the lead through Danny Ings and at that point, Pompey gave up. There have been a few games in the history of the derby where the away team has just not turned up, but this I think was the first time that the home team completely gave up without a fight. Danny Ings, complete with celebratory knee-slide made it two and any hope of Kenny Jackett inspiring a Pompey comeback after halftime were snuffed out by Cedric Soares smashing in from close range and Nathan Redmond making it four.  It annoyed me that we stopped playing at that point because there were still time to put five or six on them but Ralph Hasenhuttl and the boys had done enough for us to have the bragging rights for the next six years.

2025 – Championship – Southampton 0 Portsmouth 0

After all the hype, this was shite of the highest order. Not only was it a dreadful game to watch, it was also a game pretty devoid of passion and desire to go and be a hero, especially from Saints. The lack of any attacking intent was a bit of a blot against Will Still. Pompey wasted time from the first whistle to quieten down any fast start we might have wanted and ultimately had the best chance when Dozzell hit the bar from a long way out. John Mousinho was a tit afterwards, holding onto Still’s hand in the post-match handshake and trying to blame Tom Fellows for their goalkeeper being 40 yards off his line and their defender diving into him. There’s not much else to talk about apart from the referee giving a free kick for nothing at a rate of about two a minute. Shite game.

So, since 1975-76 season

17 derbies in all competitions.

Saints wins 9, Pompey wins 4, Draws 4

Just in the 11 League Games

Saints 4 wins, Pompey wins 3, Draws 4

The most successful manager is Lawrie McMenemy with 3 wins out of 3 and if you go back further, 5 wins out of 5 as he won twice in 1974/75 seasion as well. Next up with two wins are Gordon Strachan and Harry Redknapp (1 for each)

The biggest loser is Harry Redknapp with four defeats (1 for Saints, 3 for Pompey)

2025 – Championship at Fratton Park
All the usual bollocks is spilling out from the Blue half of Hampshire about their fans and ground being the bestest in the world etc. Same as it ever was. We cannot be getting beat by that lot.

If Tonda has his big boy pants on and goes with the same side as we had against Sheffield United, then I believe we can go down there and get a result, especially if we play with the same guts and determination as we did on Wednesday. If Tonda caves and goes with a back three or if any of our players reverts to pre-Wednesday and phone it in in any way at all then we are in trouble. If we earn the right in the opening 20 minutes, we can then show that we can play and we’re better than them. However, let them get a good start and it could get very nasty.

We are a better side than back in September and I’m not sure that they are, especially with Shaughnessy and Murphy missing. If we play the same side as on Wednesday, we have upgrades all over the pitch from the last time we played them. Peretz is better than Baz, Jelert is an improvement on Roerslev, Welington will get stuck in more than Manning. In addition, Scienza is a massive upgrade on Wee Man and Stewart offers more than Archer. In addition, Jander, Azaz and Fellows all made debuts in the first game and know what they’re doing now.

It’s time to deliver – this time properly.

Up the fucking Saints.