Hashtag United (A) Matchday Blog
On Sunday Portsmouth Women made their way to Redbridge FC to play Hashtag United.
This is Hashtags 4th season in tier 3 since their promotion in 2022/23. In their first two seasons they finished a very impressive 2nd before a 9th place finish last season.
They have has a modest start to the season with 1 win, 3 draws and 2 defeats in their first 6 games.
Pompey were on a 7 game unbeaten run, conceding just 3 goals. They were looking to bounce back after a disappointing 0-0 draw at home to Lewes.
We arrived at the stadium and parked in the free car park before making our way into the ground.
The lady on the merchandise & ticket stand warmly greeted us. Disappointingly Hashtag do not do match programmes in any form however they did do a family entry ticket for £8. That is incredible value for our family of 4 to get into a tier 3 match. Well done Hashtag.
We admired their colourful merchandise before making our way into the stadium.
The ground was a very mixed experience. The pitch was a very high end artificial surface and the stands along the side of the pitch were great.
However some of the terracing and walkways around the pitch were not so glamorous with uneven concrete, wires, weeds and debris scattered around.
There was a food and drink area. Food options were limited. You had a choice of pizza or ......... well pizza. But despite being a little costly at £10 it was very good pizza.
After a little "My flags are better than your flags" battle the game got underway.
It didn't take long to see how the game was going to go. Hashtag whilst not playing quite as defensive as Plymouth or Lewes, were clearly happy to sit in their own half and wait for a counter attack or set piece. The emphasis to score was going to be all on Pompey.
Pompey plugged away during the first half without carving out any clear cut chances. Grace Gillard was brilliant at centre back for Hashtag. I've seen her play several times now and she has been excellent every time.
There was a short break in play around 30mins and Jay delivered a passionate talk to the players which could be heard on the other side of the pitch. It was clear he wanted more from them.
Pompey could not find a breakthrough before the break. They had dominated possession but that final pass or bit of quality was lacking.
They went into the break at 0-0 and we made our way to the other end of the pitch. Bumping into Hashtag cat who was roaming around getting as much attention as possible. Including getting stuck on a roof at one point.
The second half started and Pompey were straight on the attack. However strangely enough I don't think that did us any favours. It caused Hashtag to start the half cautiously and retreat even further back than they did previously. They were very deep now meaning there was little to no space behind the defence. Even when they did get the ball they didn't attack with any more than 2 players so there was no way to counter attack them.
Pompey went agonisingly close a couple of times but never really tested the keeper enough. Jay made early subs which gave Pompey some fresh legs. But it was the same result, we just couldn't break Hashtag down.
Some positive performances from our subs. Reanna Blades looked good when she came on, I think there is plenty more to come from her especially if we can get her 1 on 1 with defenders. Alisha Ware was also good down the left wing and Amelia Hazard looks very good on the ball.
The game finished 0-0 and the enthusiastic cheers from the Hashtag bench and stands tell you everything you needed to know about their objectives for the day. They set out to get a draw and they achieved that, even if it meant defending for 90 mins. (more on that in a minute).
Pompey are now 10 points adrift of Oxford, all be it with a game in hand. We are almost 1/3 into the season now and Pompey are a few results from potentially being out the title race. Remember there is only 1 promotion place this season with no play offs to fall back on.
On average to win this league you can only drop 12-14 points all season. Pompey have already dropped 7. We are going to have to up our game if we want to stay in the title race.
So what needs to change?
A couple of things we need to be mindful of here. Pompey are a fully professional side. That has it's benefits but also comes with challenges. Pompey are (rightly or wrongly) expected to win the League despite the team coming down winning this league at the first time of asking only 3 times in the last 20 years. Which tells you quite how difficult that is to do.
Teams are setting up to frustrate Pompey, not beat them. We are the big team everyone wants to prove themselves against. The vast majority of teams in this league are worthy of their place in it, they are fit, organised and hard working. There are very few easy games at this level these days.
We are constantly facing teams playing back 5's or sitting 11 players behind the ball in their own half. It's very frustrating to watch and must be even more frustrating to play against.
You cannot blame sides for doing it, Pompey did exactly the game in the WSL2. It's a challenge Pompey must rise to and quickly.
Our defensive play has been good, 6 clean sheets in 9 games. Suttie looks superb at the back, one of the best centre backs I've seen at this level.
But our attacking play needs work. There are too few forward passes, too many 1-2's without actually going forward, or sideways passes which slow down the attack and allow the opposition to reorganise. Wingers seem to want the ball to feet then fail to take on the fall back. Our fall backs need to get forward more and overlap the wingers to create overloads.
Sometime you need a bit of flair to open these tight games up, a player who can beat someone and get a shot away or take a first time shot or pass to catch people out.
We tend to take 2-3-4 touches especially in central areas whilst attacking and it just slows the whole game down to the benefit of the opposition.
Jay and the team need us to stick with them whilst this new squad gels and find a way to win these types of games. It may take 1 more game, it may take 2 years but I believe it's only a matter of time before this quality squad deliver a promotion season.
Margins are narrow, a 1-0 loss to Fulham and two 0-0 draws to Lewes and Hashtag and the doomists have crawled out from under their rocks on socials.
Pompey dominated all 3 of those games. Had they won they would be joint top of the division and everyone would be happy. Lets not forget that.
Pompey have 6 league games before the Christmas break. To stay in the title race the aim has to be to win at least 5, including beating Oxford at Fratton Park.
Pompey now have a Cheltenham league and FA Cup home double header starting with the League game at Fratton Park on Sunday.
