Ipswich 2 Portsmouth 1: Neil Allen's verdict - Five debuts yet forgotten face steals the limelight
The Blues’ 34-year-old club captain marked his first appearance of the season in style
Pouncing on a fleeting moment of opportunism, from marginally past the halfway line substitute Marlon Pack struck a right-footed shot.
While the outrageous attempt sailed over the head of backpeddling Ipswich goalkeeper Alex Palmer, the 85th-minute effort subsequently drifted to the left of the vacant goal and wide of the intended target.
Greeted with a chorus of ‘We’ve had a shot’ by some of the 2,001 travelling Blues faithful, clearly the 34-year-old’s quick-thinking was appreciated, no matter how unsuccessful it proved.
While at Fratton Park during striking moments of clarity, Paul Cook would often remark on how players’ reputations improved among supporters the longer they were out of a first-team.
Certainly Louis Dennis, Jordy Hiwula and, to a lesser extent, Elias Sorensen and Abdoulaye Kamara, can be paraded as prime examples since the League Two title-winning boss’ south-coast tenure ended.
Yet, in the case of Pack, his absence has hardly raised a flicker of regret. Certainly there has been barely a murmur of protest over the ongoing omission of the club captain and Buckland lad.
Summer midfield signing handed Portsmouth full debut
Understandably, Luke Le Roux had been championed for a maiden Championship start, mainly following the Sheffield Wednesday debacle when the newly-created central midfield partnership of John Swift and Andre Dozzell imploded so unexpectedly.
But with Pack, having been sidelined for the opening seven matches of the campaign through injury and selection reasons, there has been no clammer for his inclusion. Not even in the soul-searching aftermath of arguably the worst home performance of Mousinho’s reign.
Indeed, some of the Fratton faithful had written off the 34-year-old, with absolutely no compulsion to see him back in action, particularly with the influx of midfield competitors in Le Roux, Swift and Mark Kosznovszky this summer.
Then, on Saturday at Portman Road, we were served a timely reminder of Pack’s prodigious talents.
A ‘brilliant’ 28-minute cameo
Introduced for Le Roux in the 62nd minute, the veteran’s first outing of the campaign would be heralded as ‘brilliant’ by Mousinho, who also declared him as Pompey’s best player on the day.
Putting aside his headed finish from John Swift’s left-wing corner in time added-on to give the scoreline a rather unrealistic 2-1 look, it was a classy cameo from a forgotten source which lit up the Blues.
With his progressive passing, outstanding vision and driving leadership, he introduced greater purpose to Pompey’s midfield play, retaining possession and serving as the inspiration behind the team’s upturn in performance levels during the second half.
Granted, Pack’s contribution was unable to transform a game which stood at a 2-0 deficit upon his entrance. Certainly he’s no miracle worker as a comfortable Ipswich still eased to victory regardless.
From the moment Jaden Philogene opened the scoring in the 10th minute, there were nagging doubts the fixture could revisit the heavy outcomes of away trips from last season. When George Hirst tapped home a second shortly before half-time, the alarm bells were ringing.
Not quite so, as the visitors admirably refused to let their heads drop and dug in, albeit barely testing Alex Palmer, with Pack shining brightest among all the outfield players during an eye-catching 28 minutes on pitch.
Cruel pre-season injury blow
In fairness, he had enjoyed a strong pre-season. It was a joy witnessing him run the friendly against Reading as he approached a fourth successive Fratton Park season determined to play a greater role.
Now with Pompey well stocked for centre-halves following multiple returns from injury, Pack was focused on re-establishing himself back in the heart of midfield rather than a selfless stand-in in defence which harshly drew greater criticism than appreciation.
Then, on the eve of the campaign’s kick-off at Oxford United, a lingering knee injury gravitated into a problem which required keyhole surgery to correct. The fact he subsequently missed only five matches was a surprise, nonetheless he returned ahead of schedule.
Even with a seething Mousinho ripping up his Pompey side at Ipswich with five changes - all of which made their full league debuts for the club - Pack was once again named on the bench. Again no demands for his inclusion, nor public outcry.
Instead Josef Bursik, Le Roux, Kosznovszky, Minhyeok Yang and Josh Knight were parachuted into the starting XI in the hope they could provide a positive reaction to Sheffield Wednesday.
Yet, in a match the Tractor Boys had more gears to find, it was Pack’s entrance off the bench which seized the limelight, in the process grabbing his first goal in 19 months, when he netted in a 4-1 win against Reading at Fratton Park.
Pompey, of course, still lost and Ipswich still won. Nonetheless, a consolation goal and a consoling performance from somebody we definitely haven’t seen the end of in a Blues shirt this season.