‘He hates...’: Portsmouth favourite sticks boot into Southampton after leading Brighton to St Mary’s mauling
Former Pompey favourite Adam Webster is playing football ‘with a smile again’ after his latest injury struggle.
And the Blues academy graduate showed just how much he’s loving life as he stuck the boot into his former club’s fierce rivals Southampton, after heaping more misery on the hapless outfit.
Webster has endured more than his fair share of fitness issues, in a career which has nonetheless fulfilled the promise he showed when emerging at Fratton Park.
This term the Brighton man has dealt with a hamstring issue which kept him out for three months, after being forced off in his side’s 3-1 win over Spurs last October.
Webster returned in January and then got a Premier League start under his belt, as the Seagulls dismissed Chelsea with a 3-0 winger earlier this month. The 30-year-old finished the game over the Londoners with the armband and then wore it from the outset at St Mary’s Stadium.
And that proved to be a very enjoyable experience for the last from West Wittering, as he skippered Brighton to a comprehensive 4-0 win over Pompey’s rock-bottom rivals.
That made it 21 defeats from 26 games for Southampton, with the side still two points short of the lowest total since the advent of the Premier League - set by Derby in 2008.
Webster certainly made the most of day to savour, as he led the post-match celebrations on Southampton turf.
The central defender then took to Instagram to highlight what a positive day it had been, with Pompey also beating QPR 2-1.
Webster posted a number of celebratory pictures with the caption: ‘Enjoyable day for the blue teams on the south coast 💙’.
That went down a storm with Pompey skipper Marlon Pack among those to applaud his display. Meanwhile, Blues fans were keen to add their appreciation for Webster, along with Seagulls followers.
‘Pompey through your veins’, replied Bradley Virgo, ‘Pompey boy’ added Jack Hackney with Jack Davies stating: ‘He hates Scummers’.
Webster is certainly looking forward with optimism again, with his boss Fabian Hurzeler recently describing the player who made 81 Pompey appearances as his ‘number one’. Webster stated last week he was playing football ‘with a smile again’, and confidence he can have a clear run of fitness.
He told the Brighton Argus: ‘When I’ve had injuries it’s never one or two weeks, always a little bit longer.
‘It’s never super long but enough to keep you out of the team and, when you come back, you have to build up again and it takes a while. It is super frustrating.
‘This season I got injured in October. I had a setback just before I was training with the boys and that was frustrating, a really low moment for me, because it felt like deja vu.
‘I feel as though I am in a good place now. Injuries are part of the game. They are always going to be there with how intense the games are and how intense training is.
‘Everyone gets injured. It’s how you deal with that and how you bounce back from it.’