Fuller punishes former club as James suffers fresh injury blow
PORTSMOUTH manager Paul Hart played down fears over England goalkeeper David James’ World Cup fitness after a defeat that kept them anchored to the bottom of the Premier League.
Stoke striker Ricardo Fuller scored the only goal against his former club, who had the best of the chances and missed a penalty.
To make matters worse for Pompey, James was forced to pull out after injuring his calf in the warm-up – fuelling concerns that he will struggle to manage a string of niggling problems ahead of the World Cup.
But Hart insisted the 39-year-old’s latest setback was routine, and would not affect his availability for next summer’s tournament.
“He pulled a calf muscle warming up,” said Hart. “The World Cup is in June, a calf muscle is usually about three weeks. I think he will be fit for the World Cup.”
Victory would have lifted Pompey off the bottom of the table but they missed their best chance when Thomas Sorensen saved Kevin Prince-Boateng’s tame spot-kick. Fuller punished the visitors in the 74th minute when the Jamaican capped a slick move with a curling strike.