Portsmouth Football Club News

Hermann Hreidarsson fumed over the penalty he felt robbed Pompey of all three points at Stoke. Referee Michael Jones penalised Glen Johnson for handball even though the ball struck the defender's shoulder. James Beattie stepped up to slam home the resulting spot-kick just minutes after Pompey had broken the deadlock through Niko Kranjcar. The Stoke striker added another two minutes later, leaving Hreidarsson to rescue a point for Pompey in injury-time when the left-back’s shot was turned past his own keeper by Potters defender Ryan Shawcross. There was plenty of relief etched onto the faces of players and supporters alike after defeat had been narrowly averted. But Hreidarsson feels that Pompey should not have needed a last-gasp goal. He said: “I’m not happy with the decision for the penalty. “Stoke hadn’t had a shot on goal and we looked solid and comfortable. “We nicked a goal and I was confident that we’d go on to win the game 1-0. “But the referee then made his decision, which I didn’t agree with. “There was no Stoke player near Glen Johnson. There was no danger. So why would he want to handle the ball? “If the referee hadn’t given the penalty it wouldn’t even have been an area for discussion. “I’m not sure whether their second goal was offside but I know I should have done better for it.” The record books will list Pompey’s late leveller as a Shawcross own-goal – but Hreidarsson disagrees. He said: “It’s my goal all day. It was going in. No one’s going to take it off me. “I just wanted to get in there, get forward and hope I could get something to fall for somebody, so either me or someone else could get a shot in.”

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