SO it’s time for all those end-of-football-season rituals.
Like looking forward to the lap of honour, checking the cricket fixtures ... and finding out when next season’s football fixtures are out.
Oh and then there’s the player-of-the-year vote.
In recent times, the main qualification for any Fratton star wanting to win the award has been to stay at the club for the whole season – and even then, such contenders have been hard to find.
What of this year’s vote?
Admittedly, the recent revival has probably increased the likely turn-out for this particular election. But characters who have been in the team from start to finish, or have had a big-enough impact in half of season, or however long they’ve been around, are still few and far between. As evidence, can you name those who played in the opening-day home game with Oxford? They were Sullivan, Butler (Holmes), Devera, Moutaouakil, Bradley, Wallace (Padovani), Ferry, Barcham, Ertl, Agyemang (Craddock), Connolly.
Not many there who have stood up well to the rigours of our League Two season, are there? It seems to me there are three main player-of-the-season contenders – Trevor Carson, Ricky Holmes and Jed Wallace. Carson has been pretty solid – save for one or two off-days – since making the No1 spot his own in October. Holmes has been lively in pretty much all the games I’ve seen, and is apparently fourth in the list of League Two players with the most assists to their name.
And Wallace, despite not reaching the heights of the second half of last season, has still been a key man in the periods when Pompey have done well.
Have I missed anyone?
Found out how to have your say, here - http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/time-to-get-thinking-and-select-your-deserving-pompey-player-of-the-season-1-6015045