Portsmouth

2

Rangers

0

(HT - )
Kickoff: 15:00
Att:
Piquionne shines on Pompey debut
Frederic Piquionne scored a debut double as Portsmouth beat Rangers 2-0 at Fratton Park in both sides' final pre-season friendly.
 
Bouba Diop: Gets tackle in on Fleck
Bouba Diop: Gets tackle in on Fleck
 

Piquionne gave Pompey fans a glimpse of what to expect during his year-long loan from Lyon with two expertly taken goals that capped an impressive first display on Saturday.

The Frenchman opened the scoring just past the half-hour mark when he headed in Younes Kaboul's floated cross, and he netted his second shortly after half-time when he rounded Allan McGregor and rolled the ball into the empty net.

Rangers arrived on the south coast without four of their Scotland internationals, who were preparing for Wednesday's crucial World Cup qualifier in Norway.

Andy Little therefore began at right-back and the youngster looked lively early on, forcing a fine stop from David James.

Left-back Sasa Papac then tested James from long range before DaMarcus Beasley's cutback narrowly failed to find Kris Boyd.

Despite their bright start, Rangers fell behind in the 31st minute when Kaboul drifted a superb cross into the box for Piquionne to nod past McGregor.

The visitors tried to respond but John Fleck's off-target curling effort from 25 yards was as close as they came before half-time.

Rangers manager Walter Smith made three changes during the break but Portsmouth were immediately on top after the restart.

John Utaka's chipped cross was acrobatically cleared by Little with Piquionne waiting to pounce.

But the striker did not have to wait long for his second goal, which arrived in the 51st minute.

Piquionne exposed Rangers captain David Weir's lack of pace before keeping his cool to go round McGregor and score.

Substitute Aaron was well off target with an ambitious effort from the halfway line before Piquionne was withdrawn just past the hour mark.

With 20 minutes remaining, Fleck fired inches wide from 30 yards, while substitute Steven Davis' shot across goal was well blocked by the legs of Jamie Ashdown, who had replaced James.

Rangers made a raft of late substitutions in search of a goal but the closest they came in the closing stages was a 25-yard strike from Madjid Bougherra which had Ashdown scrambling.

Today's other Friendly Match matches.
Man City 2 - 1 Celtic Report
      Att:
Bolton 0 - 0 Hibernian
      Att:
Liverpool 1 - 2 Atletico Madrid Report
      Att:
St Johnstone 1 - 0 Burnley
      Att:
Hearts 1 - 1 Sunderland Report
      Att:
West Ham 0 - 1 Napoli
      Att:
Aston Villa 1 - 0 Fiorentina
      Att:



Team News:

chrisheyn : "...Great results for Hull and Burnley even Nugent got a goal. The great news was we scored a hat-trick at Old Trafford, sort of, I am only happy that it was one goal less than when we played Man City wth Harry and all our a..."   view full comment

Paper Talk: Hughes' Turkish delight

Mark Hughes is on the shortlist to become Turkey's new coach, while Kieron Dyer's West Ham nightmare will cost them close to £30million.

More from today's press

WC Famous Five - Rob Mullarkey

TEAMtalk Towers veteran Rob Mullarkey takes a trip down memory lane as he fondly remembers and describes his Famous Five World Cup moments.

Read today's Column

reza78 (Manchester United) : "...Manchester United will sell Vidic to Real Madrid in the summer with Karim Benzema coming to Old Trafford. Smalling will be the new star defender! Also, Frank Ribery will join Real and David Silva to United. ..."   view full rumour

   

Don't miss these

LATEST PHOTOS TT COLUMN COMPETITIONS
In the Telegraph Sport Michael Ballack says Arsenal are not good enough to win the title and tells Arsene Wenger to stop making excuses.
TEAMtalk column
Go to the Gallery WC Famous Five - Rob Mullarkey Free to enter!