Farnborough 0 Portsmouth 5: Neil Allen's verdict - Devastating second-half drives handsome Blues win

A haul of four goals in a devastating 19-minute period underpinned a handsome 5-0 victory for Pompey as their pre-season campaign ramps up.

Just 24 hours after winning at Woking, John Mousinho’s men were handed another run out, this time against a National South club.

Again utilising 22 players, with each handed 45 minutes of match action, the Blues ran away with it in the second half to complete a comfortable triumph.

With Nicolas Schmid, Jordan Archer and Harry Clout added to the squad from the previous evening, Pompey led through Zak Swanson’s angled finish at half-time.

However, once Harry Clout converted Adrian Segecic’s pass on 62 minutes, the visitors ran riot, with Marlon Pack, Thomas Waddingham and Josh Murphy also getting on the scoresheet in the John O’Hara Memorial Fixture.

Regardless of the size of the scoreline, it was another useful fixture early in their summer schedule, with a trip to League Two Crawley next up on Saturday.

The game was just two minutes old when Rakish Bingham produced a left-footed lob from about 22 yards which soared over Schmid, only to strike the top of the crossbar.

Pompey’s keeper was well beaten and they were highly fortunate to escape after that piece of quality from the opposition number nine.

Minutes later, the hosts had another great chance when a driving run from Billy Clifford saw Poleon fed inside the box, only for his resulting shot to take a slight deflection and fizz wide for a corner.

It was 13 minutes before Pompey registered their first attempt on goal, when Swanson did well to dispossess Aaron Kuhl on the edge of the box and tee up Paddy Lane on the right.

However, the winger’s curling left-footed shot flew narrowly over the bar, without testing keeper Jack Turner.

Within a minute, though, the deadlock was broken through Swanson.

Fraser Thomas’ clever backheel found Chinedu Agu and he slipped a pass through to Swanson, whose first touch took the ball around Farnborough’s keeper. His second finished into an empty net from the angle.

It was a superbly-worked goal from Mousinho’s men, with two Academy kids the architects and rightly deserving of any praise for their roles.

Farnborough had the opportunity to level in the 29th minute, emanating from Kuhl’s precise pass down the middle, with the ball eventually finding its way to Poleon.

Faced with just Schmid to beat, the Blues keeper did brilliantly, coming off his line to block at the striker’s feet and then retrieve the loose ball to end the danger.

Still, the visitors entered half-time with a 1-0 advantage as Mousinho implemented his scheduled 11 changes for the second half, with the likes of Hayden Matthews, Connor Ogilvie, Nathan Ferguson, Adrian Segecic and Josh Murphy introduced.

Within 43 seconds of the restart, Murphy broke down the left and crossed to put Harry Clout clean through, only for the youngster to send a weak shot straight at the keeper.

However, the winger did score on 62 minutes after excellent work from Segecic, who pulled the ball back from the right byline.

There was Clout to calmly apply a left-footed finish into the far bottom corner of the net to make it 2-0 to the Blues.

Mousinho’s men weren’t finished, however, with Pack next on the scoresheet with a stunning free-kick from 25 yards.

The second-half skipper stepped up after Thomas Waddingham was fouled and planted a wonderful right-footed finish into the far corner of the net on 71 minutes.

Waddingham himself then got in on the act on 77 minutes, with a low left-footed finish which found the net off the inside of the far post to make it 4-0.

It was soon 5-0, when Murphy curled a delightful right-footed shot into the far corner of the net from outside the box on 81 minutes.

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