Championship: Stoke thrash Pompey
Stoke City 6 - 1 Portsmouth
Tom Cannon bagged four goals as Stoke City stormed to a dominant win over Portsmouth, securing their first Championship victory under new head coach Narcis Pelach.
Cannon opened the scoring for Stoke after 13 minutes with a superb curling free-kick from 25 yards—his first goal for the club. Portsmouth hit back in the 29th minute when Mark O'Mahony finished off a swift counter-attack, but Stoke quickly regained control. Cannon struck again, and Sam Gallagher added another in the space of three minutes just before half-time.
Cannon then netted twice more in rapid succession after the break, before Andrew Moran rounded off the comprehensive win, leaving Portsmouth still searching for their first victory after eight league matches.
A closer look at what happened as Stoke return to winning ways
The Potters started with real intent, with Ben Wilmot rattling the crossbar with a long-range effort after just 30 seconds. It set the tone for a relentless Stoke performance, and they were rewarded when Cannon’s dipping free-kick bounced awkwardly in front of Portsmouth keeper Will Norris, who got a hand to it but couldn’t keep it out.
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| This was the view from the Portsmouth end after they scored |
Norris briefly made up for that with a quick throw that set up a Portsmouth counter-attack, allowing Josh Murphy to sprint down the wing and square the ball for O'Mahony to slot home from 12 yards.
However, Stoke reclaimed the lead before the break when Gallagher threaded a neat ball to Cannon, who lashed a near-post finish into the top corner. Then, deep into first-half stoppage time, Norris’s poor pass was intercepted by Moran, who set up Gallagher to rifle a shot into the net from the edge of the box.
After the interval, Cannon was brought down by Norris in the box following hesitation from Murphy. The 21-year-old striker, on loan from Leicester, dusted himself off and calmly converted the resulting penalty to complete his hat-trick. He wasn’t done yet, though, and just three minutes later, he fired home his fourth goal after being teed up by Bae Junho.
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Moments after Cannon’s fourth, Junho turned provider again, feeding Moran, who drilled in a low shot from 20 yards, sealing a five-minute spell of devastation that left Portsmouth reeling.
Although Portsmouth managed to limit further damage, the match was effectively over by then. Stoke had done the hard work, scoring five goals in just 13 minutes either side of half-time.
O'Mahony’s first goal since joining on loan from Brighton became little more than a consolation, as Portsmouth remain 23rd in the league, only ahead of bottom-placed Cardiff on goal difference, which also took a significant hit in this heavy defeat.
For Stoke, it was a first win in four games, propelling them six places up the table to 15th.
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