THERE ARE times when Alan Ball must feel like a man trying to walk up a down escalator.

No matter how much effort he puts into trying to move forward, he's standing still, not going anywhere.

The bare statistical difference between the two sides might have been the own goal that went in against the one that didn't, but Pompey lost to Grimsby for the second time in a month because they probably didn't think they could win.

The own goal that eventually proved to be the winner came courtesy of Andy Awford, although there wasn't much else he could do.

Grimsby were allowed to build down the left and Tony Gallimore was given time and space to deliver a cross into that dangerous space between last defender and goalkeeper. With Bradley Allen loitering with the intent of a tap in, Awford stuck out a leg and did it for him.

The one that didn't go in saw Richard Smith attempt to swing at Sammy Igoe's low cross, only to slice it like a weekend hack golfer and Danny Coyne pounced to grab the ball on the line. Despite the Pompey howls of protest, referee Keith Hill correctly ruled that a player swinging a leg with more force than John Daly wielding a fairway wood six yards out can hardly be guilty of an intentional back-pass.

Grimsby are dapper, neat and busy, and just as they did a month ago when they won with ten men at Fratton Park, they got their tactics spot-on again, especially in the first-half. They put the clamp on in midfield, determined not to allow Pompey to pass their way through and Paul Groves, Wayne Burnett and David Smith were always in the faces of Alan McLoughlin and Sammy Igoe.

The result was that Pompey were forced to play it long and, like snipers waiting in long grass, Richard Smith and Mark Lever just picked off any threatening intruders.

End product was a nondescript performance by Pompey. Not bad enough for a slagging, but never good enough to earn the points. It was just . . . nothing.

Most disappointing to Ball would have been Pompey's lack of devil in the box. They got into positions but either failed to attack the ball, or made wrong choices.

Simpson's first-half burst into the box took him into a great position on his favoured left-peg. But, instead of taking a blast, he tried to clip the ball up to Lee Bradbury at the far post.

Pompey's cutting edge was a very rusty blade, with Bradbury failing to muster an on-target effort all night, and Steve Claridge managing one - for which he was immediately substituted!

Their pressure in the last 15 minutes was intense at times but, despite knocking on the door, they never got in and as they went for broke Pouton should have punished them on the break.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.