Portsmouth vs Arsenal - Fratton Park, Portsmouth - Sunday 13th May 2007

We finally get to the last match of what has frankly been a very disappointing season. We moved to a new stadium, but definitely took the hit in terms of results on the pitch. We dropped too many cheap points as we took time to get used to the new stadium - both the pitch and the atmosphere. We suffered especially as the new ground seemed to lift the smaller teams that came to play us. We missed too much of too many influential players through injury, not least Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie. And, with the exception of the Carling Cup, we were out of contention for all of the trophies far too early.

We did get to see the emergence of some great young talent, especially in the run to the Carling Cup final, and Cesc Fabregas started to truly become one of the very best midfielders in the world. But overall, the season was a story of what could have been, especially after being 15 minutes away from winning the Champions League a year ago.

Portsmouth on the other hand have had a great season - in fact still able to qualify for the UEFA Cup on the final day. Their recent cash injections, plus some smart signings by Harry Redknapp (mainly of old Arsenal players like Lauren, Campbell and Kanu - although David James is also noteworthy), have delivered a season that their fans could never have expected.

End of season games are often a bit weird, and the atmosphere was one of Pompey fans celebrating the end of a good season, with Arsenal fans just relieved that the season is finally over! Plus, everybody had cause to celebrate the news that Graham Poll has decided to quit refereeing, and today was to be his final game - good riddance!

Going in fancy dress for the last game of the season, meant a fantastic seat in the very front row, very close to the action, and much of the game was watched through the goal net. Mart Poom started the game, and it was nice to see him after a couple of years of him never getting off the bench! Other than that, we had a strange lineup, with no recognised striker on the pitch (and no, Baptista is no longer a "recognised" striker in my opinion).

This all meant that the game was far from exciting, with Arsenal certainly just seeming to go through the motions for much of the time. We did get a penalty just before half time, but Craptista contrived to miss it, for his third penalty miss of the season. Why his teammates let him take the penalty I will never know, but at least it wasn't important, and some credit is due to David James for a decent save. The second half began with some great banter with David James, who was bemused to arrive in front of a load of Arsenal fans in fancy dress, and was joining in the fun with us - one of those things that occasionally reminds you that (some) footballers double as human beings, and some have a sense of humour as well.

The major incident of the second half was Poll's decision to disallow a Portsmouth goal. It was at completely the other end to me, so I didn't see it at the time, but TV replays showed a clear offside and a correct decision (for once) from the crap ref. Still, that didn't stop the idiots on Match Of The Day (Lineker especially) droning on about how "controversial" it all was. How can an incident where a referee makes a perfectly correct decision be described as "controversial"?

The amusement was of course that the small-time Pompey fans then had a perfect scapegoat for their failure to qualify for Europe. Seeing such small-time fans so hopping mad is always very funny. Birmingham City, Newcastle United, Everton and Spurs fans also exhibit this very well - I can only assume it comes either from wearing too much blue, or from some kind of inferiority complex. Moan, moan, moan, moan, moan.

So, the game finished 0-0, it was not a classic by any means, but then end of season games are often like that. No more football for a while now, it will be a long 3 months without a World Cup or European Championships, and most probably without the transfer budget to bring in too many exciting new players either. Still, if we can get all of our players fit for the middle of August, that would be the first step to doing much better next time.