Portsmouth exit administration, Stead haunts QPR again
It’s been a long overdue positive weekend for the fans of Portsmouth. Not only did the club continue their superb form of late by beating Hull 2-1, the financially stricken club have finally come out of administration.
The club's administrators revealed on Sunday that the south-coast club had exited administration and would continue to function in the long-term, after negotiating a £2.2million deal with creditor Alexandre Gaydamak, the Russian businessman who owned the team for three years until 2009.
A club statement read: "The administrators of Portsmouth City Football Club are pleased to announce that negotiations between the various parties concerning the sale of the club have now been satisfactorily concluded.”
At the top of the Championship, a team who have no money worries, QPR, played out their third consecutive draw as they were held 1-1 by Bristol City. The visitors had only conceded three goals before their trip to Ashton Gate but there was little the solid back-four could do about Jon Stead’s thunderbolt of a strike mid-way through the first half. The goal was Stead’s sixth goal in his last five games against QPR.
Patrick Agyemang grabbed the visitors a deserved equaliser with 12 minutes to go, but despite remaining unbeaten, Rangers’ impressive start to the season is on the verge of petering out.
Their lead at the top is still three points, but second placed Cardiff have a game in-hand against Leeds this evening and could join Rangers at the top with a win.
It is fair to say that Preston fans aren’t too impressed with their side’s current league position in the Championship, but they can’t complain about the lack of entertainment served up for them so far this season. The Lillywhites beat Crystal Palace 4-3 in an enthralling encounter at Deepdale, meaning Preston have been involved in three games this season where seven or more goals have been scored.
Jon Parkin got the home fans rocking inside 13 minutes when he opened the scoring, but Owen Garvan equalised for the visitors minutes later with an incredible half volley from 30-yards.
Parkin restored the lead mid-way through the first-half and Keith Treacy was the next to get in on the act cracking home a 25-yard screamer for the hosts.
The game seemed over when Preston skipper Callum Davidson scored from the penalty spot in the second period after Paul Coutts was hauled down by Julien Bennett. Goals from James Vaughan and Andrew Dorman reduced the deficit, but Preston grimly held on for the points and despite the result, which lifts them out of the drop zone, manager Darren Ferguson was far from happy at the final whistle.
"So many good things happened but our defending takes away from that," Ferguson said.
"I didn't feel comfortable at 4-1 which is ridiculous. Everyone was getting tense. We have to be more professional."
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