Perrin will feel the heat
Alain Perrin will feel the pressure of becoming the first Premiership manager in danger of losing his job this season after Portsmouth’s humiliating Carling Cup exit at League One strugglers Gillingham.
The Frenchman, who turned Troyes into a European force and also tasted Champions League football in charge of Marseille, saw Pompey crash in extra time at Priestfield and admitted: “It’s my worst moment yet.”
He was given fearful verbal abuse by travelling Pompey fans among the 4,039 crowd when he left the touchline after his side twice surrendered the lead to comic-cuts equalisers, missed a penalty through substitute Svetoslav Todorov and finally slumped to Andrew Crofts’ extra-time strike.
Pompey chairman Milan Mandaric mumbled “here we go again” as a cryptic comment after Darren Byfield was the beneficiary on both occasions when goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown gifted him, first a free shot to equalise just before half-time and then another goal which went in off the custodian’s head from a post to make it 2-2.
But Perrin refused to blame Ashdown for this disaster.
He said: “He made some great saves as well. It was the rest of the team that did not have the confidence to keep fighting after we conceded bad goals.
“You have to fight before you can seek to play in games like this and we did not do that even though we started so well.”
