(17/11/2001)
It may have been the plum fixture in Riga’s National League Division One career to date but everything else about Saturday’s visit to Portsmouth was distinctly pear-shaped. The three-nil result took Pompey into a clear second place in the table and left their visitors to rue a missed opportunity.
A training ground injury meant that Tom Spijkers was forced to sit this important match out and a re-jigged Riga had John Gilling filling in for the absent Dutchman. When, through him, they went 9 - 6 up in the first set a seventh straight win looked a distinct possibility. At 17 - 11 up after strong play by David Nason possibility was turning into probability. With the gates of Pompey now open, the legions of Warwick should have stormed through. Instead hesitation crept in and as ex-England international Marcus Russell made mincemeat of the Riga defence, Portsmouth roared back into the set. Only Gilling and captain Tom Young appeared capable of mounting any resistance but with Portsmouth suddenly in the ascendancy, it was they who triumphed 26 - 24.
If Warwick were down, they certainly roared off to a fine start in the second set. Five-one up and Portsmouth were heading for the ropes. But uncharacteristic errors and an in-form Russell saw Pompey back level. A ball in the face of Riga’s Kees de Hoogh forced his temporary retirement from the game and with it some of Warwick’s will. Portsmouth made the most of a disjointed set of visitors to claim a 21 - 15 lead. From then on they coasted home 25 - 17.
Whatever hopes or interest Riga aspired to in the third set quickly evaporated. Thirteen-five down and with the options rapidly running out, all that was left was respectability. Young, Gilling and Richard Meade helped achieve something towards that, but too many anonymous performances confirmed defeat at 25 - 17.
"We weren’t at the races today," said skipper Tom Young afterwards. “We turned up, got changed and then decided it wasn’t worth competing. It was a big game for us and we should have made something of it, especially in the first set. But we froze mentally and that was us finished."