Roker Roundup: “We let them take Trafalgar Square, but we took Wembley” says Pompey chief

Praise for Sunderland fans

Following Portsmouth’s penalty shoot-out Checkatrade Trophy Final win on Sunday, the South Coast club have been full of praise for the behaviour of Sunderland fans in London at the weekend.

Eric Eisner, Pompey board member and son of owner Michael Eisner, explained how well behaved Sunderland’s fans were and how close they were to his hotel:

The Sunderland fans were right by our hotel!

We didn’t come out flashing our Pompey stuff, although I had my hat for a while, but then you start talking to them and they were all very nice.

They weren’t causing trouble.

Their chief executive was also full of praise for our fans, explaining how a bunch of Sunderland fans gatecrashed their post-match get together to buy the Pompey board drinks:

I thought the Sunderland fans were great.

Walking around Wembley on the Saturday, mixing and mingling with them, they were fantastic.

Some of their fans gatecrashed our little get together on Sunday night. When players started to drift out, they came over and joined us.

It was absolutely brilliant, they kept wanting to buy us drinks, congratulating us. What a lovely gesture that was.

The same goes for those in charge of the club and Jack Ross and his backroom staff, fantastic people.

Sunderland is a really, really great club from top to bottom.

To a degree, I think that made the victory that much more special, they are one of the big clubs in the country.

And, inside Wembley, it was a great achievement to beat them.

For large parts of the second half we were losing – and you wouldn’t expect the losing team’s support to be as loud as the winning team during the game.

Yet our fans were amazing, they kept on going throughout.

Credit where it’s due, though, Sunderland are right up there as one of the most passionate sets of fans in the country.

So to go head-to-head with them in regards of the singing and the passion was no mean feat.

This wasn’t a club with a load of plastic fans, this was a real, proper football club – like Portsmouth.

We let them take Trafalgar Square, but we took Wembley.

Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

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Academy product in-demand

Sunderland academy product Alex Gorrin has been in form for Motherwell this season and with the Spanish midfielder out of contract at the end of the season, that has drawn interest from elsewhere.

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson is keen to keep the 25-year-old at Fir Park and has offered Gorrin a new contract but Wigan Athletic, Blackburn Rovers and Millwall have all recently watched the player in anticipation of a move.

Gorrin spent five years at the Academy of Light without making a first team appearance and left for Wellington Phoenix in 2014.

Photo by Paul Thomas/Getty Images

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Sartori election latest

Juan Sartori has received a boost in his bid to become president of his native Uruguay, with poll numbers showing that he is gaining on current front-runner Luis Lacelle Pau.

Pau had been the overwhelming favourite but Sartori has steadily increased in popularity since declaring that he will stand for the National Party’s nomination.

Sartori is currently in third place behind Pau and Jorge Larrañaga but his numbers may be boosted further with rumours circulating that another candidate - Veronica Alonso - may withdraw from her nomination and give her backing to the Sunderland shareholder.