McMulty's magic headlines Pompey's super six
Tuesday, 24th Nov 2015 23:32 by pompey-fans.com staff

You wait ages for a home Pompey goal, then six come along in 35 minutes. Fratton fear? The only Fratton fear was in the eyes of the York players after Pompey had gone ahead and were running riot.

It's tempting to trot out the old 'game of two halves' cliche here but in fact Pompey were on their game in both halves of this encounter. The difference was that in the first half, none of their many efforts went in - in the second half everything went in.

York were already struggling to cope with the frequency of Pompey's attacks when Jonathan Greening was rightly sent off for a horrible clattering of Michael Doyle near halfway. The gist of York's vociferous protests at the decision was unclear.

A second 45 minutes up against a confident, fluent Pompey side with 10 men instead of 11 men always looked like being too much for them. And it was much too much.

1-0 - Five minutes into the second half, Ben Davies, enjoying another storming game, cut in from the right on to his left foot and sent a low cross into the six-yard box. It evaded everyone but should never have beaten keeper Scott Flinders. Perhaps the keeper was hoping it would go out for a goal kick so he could waste more time like he had before the break.

2-0 - Marc McNulty almost walked into an effort at goal by Michael Doyle following a Gareth Evans cross, and diverted it past a wrongfooted Flinders. A two-goal lead was as big a one as Pompey had enjoyed since late in the win over Barnet more than two months ago. It never looked like not being enough.

3-0 - On the hour, McNulty had his second as he sidefooted home from Kyle Bennett's clever pass to him across the area when he might have had a go himself.

4-0 - After a full 11 minutes without a goal the on-loan Sheffield United poked a shot past Flinders after another Doyle set-up, this time an incisive pass through the centre of the York defence. McNulty was immediately subbed, to a standing ovation from the crowd.

5-0 - Now it was the subs' turn to take over, just in case York were glad to see the back of McNulty and also-subbed Bennett. Ben Tollitt followed on from where he left off at Carlisle by slotting in the fifth from an Enda Stevens cross.

6-0 - Fellow sub Conor Chaplin put the seal on Pompey's biggest win in years when he slid in to convert after Flinders made an awful hash of dealing with a Tollitt strike.

The crowd wanted seven, York's hardy fans just wanted one, but neither got their wish.

Add a clean sheet into the mix - Pompey's third in a row in home league games - and it was a very, very good night's work for Paul Cook, who left others to take the credit afterwards in the post-match interviews.

On to Wycombe on Saturday and suddenly those home woes seem no more than a memory.

Pompey: Murphy; Davies (Boco 73), Burgess, Webster, Stevens; Hollands, Doyle (c); Evans, McNulty (Chaplin 73), Bennett (Tollitt 76); Lavery. Subs not used: Bass, Clarke, Barton, McGurk.

Referee: Iain Williamson

Attendance: 13,616 (141 away fans)