Penny for the thoughts of the Stoke fan bottom right When we played Stoke City at St Mary’s, it was the first reality check when we suddenly realized that, oh hang on a minute, we might in fact be a bit shit this season and Will Still is not the second coming. That defeat, where we basically got outplayed by a club that had finished consistently in the bottom half of the Championship over the last few seasons, was initially written off as a blip until we had a few more.

As If We Could Love Him Any More South Coast Derby trips to Fratton Park seem to be all about the narratives. Those narratives of course are all about Pompey, the bestest fans, the bestest ground, the bestest atmosphere, the bested hostility and the bestest soap dodging c*** with the bell and all that. You can’t read an article about this particular game without it being some sort of massive rim job with those from the East side of Hampshire on the receiving end.

South Coast Derby trips to Fratton Park seem to be all about the narratives. Those narratives of course are all about Pompey, the bestest fans, the bestest ground, the bestest atmosphere, the bested hostility and the bestest soap dodging c*** with the bell and all that. You can’t read an article about this particular game without it being some sort of massive rim job with those from the East side of Hampshire on the receiving end.

Last Time at Fratton 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.

Leo cares not about deflections Sheffield United of course play in red and white stripes and there are many other similarities between them and us this season. Like us, they were expected to be up near the top of the league and challenging at least for the playoffs. Like us however, they are having somewhat of a wasted season. The only reason they are not in the Premier League this season is because they lost in the last minute of the play-off final to Sunderland last year and the new owners decided to go in a different direction and sack Chris Wilder, after winning 92 points last season.

I Am the Resurrection Sheffield United of course play in red and white stripes and there are many other similarities between them and us this season. Like us, they were expected to be up near the top of the league and challenging at least for the playoffs. Like us however, they are having somewhat of a wasted season. The only reason they are not in the Premier League this season is because they lost in the last minute of the play-off final to Sunderland last year and the new owners decided to go in a different direction and sack Chris Wilder, after winning 92 points last season.

Permanently Injured Striker The Only Crumb of Comfort The away game against Hull City earlier on this season was one of the more pivotal games that Saints have had so far. To refresh your memory, Saints, managed by Will Still, were abominably shit and got beaten 3-1, which was a scoreline that flattered us given that our consalation goal was scored in the 95th minute.

4th Round That Way! Fifty years ago we embarked on an FA Cup run which ultimately led to us winning the whole damn thing at Wembley Stadium on May 1st 1976. I was 7, you do the maths. With us being a Second Division side now and our away kit being yellow and blue (ish), I see no reason to doubt that come May, we won’t be celebrating lifting the FA Cup again.

The Legend of Hugh Fisher is born... Fifty years ago we embarked on an FA Cup run which ultimately led to us winning the whole damn thing at Wembley Stadium on May 1st 1976.  I was 7, you do the maths.  With us being a Second Division side now and our away kit being yellow and blue (ish), I see no reason to doubt that come May, we won’t be celebrating lifting the FA Cup again.

Exit Finn, Pondering his life choices With no goals in their last seven hours of football, Middlesbrough must be licking their lips with anticipation at playing Southampton this Sunday afternoon. Saints of course kept to clean sheet in their last game, so it’s all adding up to there being absolutely no chance of that being repeated. Middlesbrough have been in the top two all the season, having maybe been expected to be aiming for the playoffs this season, but these four games without a goal have seen them dropped to 3rd place as Ipswich have overhauled them.

Tonda - probably Thinking About Birmingham On Monday Oxford United are a team that I know very little about. The only recent memory I have of them was playing them in a preseason friendly before the start of last season and losing 2-0. In the same way than the preseason performances this season told us that the Will Still appointment might not go particularly well, that Oxford performance told us was the forerunner of the Premier League campaign being a 12 point murder of a campaign.

The one 2nd Half Highlight In the normal scheme of things, when you go to Carrow Road in the Championship, you are going to one of the teams up near the top of the division who will be challenging for promotion. Norwich have always been one of the yo-yo teams before Leicester on ourselves got in on the act but they are parachute payment free now and having made a succession of bad decisions over the past couple of seasons are languishing in 23rd place, even lower than Portsmouth.

Russell Martin Will Not Be Managing Either Team Today In the normal scheme of things, when you go to Carrow Road in the Championship, you are going to one of the teams up near the top of the division who will be challenging for promotion. Norwich have always been one of the yo-yo teams before Leicester on ourselves got in on the act but they are parachute payment free now and having made a succession of bad decisions over the past couple of seasons are languishing in 23rd place, even lower than Portsmouth.

Shit - Is He Behind Me? Tonda Eckert and Saints turn their sights towards West Brom at St Mary’s under the lights on a Tuesday. If you look at current form then Saints have three home wins in a row and West Brom have six away defeat in a row but as we all know, Saints are and have historically been the team you want to play if you are on a shit run.

Wave Goodbye Perhaps? Tonda Eckert and Saints turn their sights towards West Brom at St Mary’s under the lights on a Tuesday. If you look at current form then Saints have three home wins in a row and West Brom have seven away defeat in a row but as we all know, Saints are and have historically been the team you want to play if you are on a shit run.

Championship Golden Boot Here I Come Birmingham City, freshly promoted out of League 1 are the visitors to St Mary’s this afternoon, in a game where we find out if Tonda Eckert can deal with the adversity that we happened upon last week at Millwall. Friday morning arrived with reports beginning to do the rounds that Tonda would be given the permanent job, which is what happened in the evening, with him signing a deal until the end of next season, which is when the parachute payments run out, so Sport Republic have put all the eggs in this particular basket.