Portsmouth v Sheffield Wednesday: Owls battle to a point at Fratton Park.. but at what cost?

Massimo Luongo looks likely to miss three matches after he was shown a red card midway through the second half and Lee Gregory hobbled off the field late on, while Josh Windass, Chey Dunkley and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing missed out on the matchday squad altogether.

Portsmouth were yet to score a goal with their head this season and the Owls were placed on something of a tightrope from the fourth minute when Callum Paterson – crowned aerial destroyer-in-chief given Dunkley’s absence – was slapped with a yellow card for his upending of George Hirst in just the fourth minute.

It was Hirst who had the best of the opening stages, probing his way at the makeshift Owls defence but making no real headway when it came to the crunch. He lead a high press that caused the Owls a headache or two and only Bailey Peacock-Farrell’s right foot saved the former Wednesday youth prospect from opening the scoring after 25 minutes.

Though he had an otherwise quiet half, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru came closest to opening the scoring for the Owls, driving from nowhere into the heart of the Pompey defence and swing a shot just over the bar.

Peacock-Farrell continued in ‘star man’ vein by saving Ronan Curtis’ goal bound effort as the half wound down and with the home side wasteful, Wednesday grew into things a touch; had Lee Gregory’s flick-on deflected from anywhere but the centre of Liam Palmer’s forehead, you’d fancy it would have been a goal.

Half-time came and went, seemingly taking a bit of the sting of the match with it. Wednesday struggled to get much going, preferring to sit in in an attempt to hit their hosts on the break, but despite the efforts of Jack Hunt in particular, service to the front two of Florian Kamberi and Lee Gregory was below par.

Luckily, so was that of Portsmouth. Playing against a back three made up of two wingers and a full back they didn’t threaten nearly enough. They have injuries too, but it was a home performance lacking punch, especially before Luongo’s exit.

That said, a patched-up Wednesday did well to ease their threat despite a handful of hairy moments, led in no small part by the man between the sticks.

It’ll be March before Peacock-Farrell heads off for international duty again, and it was his 66th-minute save to deny Curtis’ header that showed a glimpse of that international class.

It was shortly afterwards that Luongo was sent off for a mistimed tackle on Curtis and on came the onslaught. Palmer locked heroically at the death to typify the challenge.

That Wednesday survived and left Fratton Park with a point was surely a good thing and was another insight into a battling mentality that in previous seasons would have seen them crumble.

As points go, it wasn’t a bad one.

Portsmouth: Bazunu; Freeman, Raggett, Ogilvie; Romeo, Williams, Azeez, Hackett, Harness; Curtis, Hirst (Harrison, 84’)

Subs unused: Bass, Hughes, Jewitt-White, Ahadme, Marquis, Gifford

Sheffield Wednesday: Peacock-Farrell; Hunt, Paterson, Palmer, Johnson, Shodipo; Luongo, Bannan, Dele-Bashiru; Kamberi (Wing, 71’), Gregory

Subs unused: Wildsmith, Brown, Byers, Corbeanu, Berahino, Sow