Centre-half Matt Clarke and his loan side Portsmouth returned to the top of the League Two table following an eventful 3-1 win at Cambridge United this afternoon.

The 18-year-old was subbed in the 65th minute as Pompey switched their system when 1-0 down to the 10-man U’s, who had captain Mark Roberts sent off for an incident in the tunnel at half-time.

Clarke’s side also lost a player late on when Gareth Evans was dismissed for a wild challenge.

The Town youngster has now made 14 appearances for Portsmouth, with whom he is on loan until January 3rd, although with the Blues able to recall him at 24 hours' notice.

Winger Cameron Stewart’s loan club Doncaster weren’t in action due to international calls, while Josh Yorwerth missed Crawley’s 3-2 home victory over Leyton Orient as he was in action for the Wales U21s as they drew 0-0 in Denmark last night.

Photo: Action Images

battyblue added 05:57 - Oct 11 nice one Matt keep it up sounds like you have a manager there with a plan B.
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Len_Brennan added 07:48 - Oct 11 The manager's plan B involved substituting Clarke, so I wouldn't be too euphoric about Matt's opportunities to "keep it up" under such a system.
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Bergholtblue added 09:23 - Oct 11 The fact that "Clarke's Pompey" were 1-0 down to a 10 man United when he was substituted and only pulled it around after he had gone off, is perhaps something best not shouted from the rooftops. I am not saying for one minute that Matt was too blame for Pompey's position or that they only won because he went off. What I am saying is that this report makes it sound that way. If we are going to report on our loanees and I am all for that, could we temper it with an assessment of how they played and how they are maturing as players . After all that is what they were sent on loan to do.

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Fixed_It added 11:47 - Oct 11 Yes - I agree. Phil should go to all our loanees' games when Town aren't playing - or at least get his staff to cover the matches.
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PhilTWTD added 18:20 - Oct 11 Bergholtblue Thought the bit about the substitution being a tactical change implied that the substitution wasn't a reflection of his performance. As Fixed_It says, can't be at the loanees' games and quite often TWTDers who were at their matches add their thoughts in the comments. But further to that, Ray Crawford was on Life's a Pitch a couple of weeks ago and has been very impressed with Clarke's performances, as have most observers.

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