Portsmouth Progress To Champions League Semi-Finals

TJ Yates and Ray Westbrook - Image: Jake Kirkman

Writes: Evan Halliday

Six points are enough for Pompey to progress through to the Champions League semi-finals as they face Wisła Kraków at 16:30 [GMT].

Portsmouth couldn’t have asked for a better start to life in the Champions League, with two wins from two games on the opening day, as the England representatives made their mark in Malaga.

A decisive 3-0 victory over Paris FC courtesy of goals from England internationals, Matt Dean, Jamie Tregaskiss and TJ Yates provided the south coast club with the perfect start on Friday afternoon.

After a much-deserved rest, Portsmouth were back in action on Friday evening, in a clash with Dublin’s Bohemian F.C, Tony Mills being a notable name on the Pompey team sheet, coming back from injury to start at the heart of defence.

It was another convincing victory for Pompey as they made it two wins from two pumping four goals past the Irish outfit, with captain Ray Westbrook adding his first of the competition whilst TJ Yates took the match ball after scoring his first Champions League hat-trick.

TJ Yates celebrates his hat-trick - Image: Jake Kirkman

With a plus five [+5] goal difference you would suspect that the English club would be in a relatively strong position in the table, however, it was Pompey’s next opponent Sahinbey who sat at the top of the table.

Saturday morning set out a decider as to who would top Group B after the third and final group game, with Pompey full of confidence after two successive victories.

Meanwhile, the Turkish side were too much too strong for Callum Fowler and Patrice Link’s Portsmouth side as they slumped to a 5-0 defeat.

However, with six points already on the table, a second-place finish in the group sees the Blues progress to the semi-finals where they'll take on Polish champions Wisła Kraków at 16:30 [GMT].