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Stevenage vs Portsmouth. Carabao Cup First Round.

Broadhall WayAttendance4,236.

Stevenage 1

  • D Murphy (19th minute)

Portsmouth 2

  • N Ciftci (8th minute)
  • M Brown (36th minute)

Pompey spoil debutants' day

Image: Cotterill: Confidence boost

Stevenage's debut in the Carling Cup ended in disappointment as they lost 2-1 to Portsmouth.

Ciftci and Brown book a place in the second round

Stevenage's debut in the Carling Cup ended in disappointment as they lost 2-1 to Portsmouth in the first round at Broadhall Way. After a 2-0 defeat in their first match of the Championship season at Coventry at the weekend, Steve Cotterill's cash-strapped Pompey arrived wary of an upset against their newly-promoted Football League hosts. But headers from full debutant Nadir Ciftci and Michael Brown either side of what proved to be a deflected consolation from Darren Murphy earned former Premier League side Portsmouth a place in the second round. Freshly-relegated Portsmouth got off to a flier with an eighth minute goal from 18-year-old Ciftci to silence the home fans. The Carling Cup was new territory for Stevenage altogether following their elevation from the Conference last season.

Tense and tight

Ciftci got on the end of a Matt Ritchie cross to direct a neat header home from just inside the six-yard box. Pompey's lead, however, lasted just 10 minutes as Murphy fired a deflected long-range drive into the bottom corner. But in an action-packed first half, it was Cotterill's side who regained the lead in the 36th minute when Joel Ward crossed for Brown to head past Chris Day. The second period was an often tense and tight affair and the gulf in status between both sides was not very evident. But following a losing start to their Championship campaign at the weekend, Cotterill will be happy that his side got a positive result in one of the trickiest ties of the whole first-round stage.

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