If their third meeting of the season is anywhere near as entertaining as the first two, get along to Fratton Park on Tuesday 22 February. Portsmouth v Crystal Palace will definitely give you your money's worth.
In the first game, a League Cup tie, there was a comedy own-goal, a red card, a rare goal by David Nugent, and a penalty shoot-out, won by Pompey, that went on half the night.
Last night in the Championship there was a hat-trick on his home debut for the Everton loanee James Vaughan, more comedy defending from both sides, glimpses of Nwankwo Kanu at his best, a substitute referee and a spectacular waterfall. "It should have been a 6-6 draw," said a Palace season-ticket holder who couldn't fathom the 4-1 scoreline, just like Steve Cotterill.
Vaughan, apparently available for £3m, is on a three-month loan. Palace are not awash with money and other offers will surely come in. His first goal, a shot on the turn, was a cracker. Owen Garvan and Neil Danns also stood out, and Nugent deserved a goal or two.
The key man, though, was Ibrahima Sonko, who brings to mind Djimi Traoré on a bad day – a botched clearance on jelly legs. Sonko appears to have an uncontrollable urge to give away the ball, a goal, the game.
All the arguing about Palace's second goal, which came when Pompey looked far more likely to score, missed the point. Maybe it was offside, maybe Jamie Ashdown was at fault, but Palace shouldn't have had the ball in the first place. Sonko, who not for the first time had gone forward for a long throw that never happened, needlessly lost possession near the halfway line.
Game over. It was he who scored the own goal in the cup tie, and the way he grins after a bad mistake adds to his entertainment value, except to Pompey fans.
In the first half, Sonko was lucky not to give away a goal when Vaughan dispossessed him just outside the penalty area, and how he conceded a corner when he had a four-yard start on his man only he will know. His thought processes seem to be as wayward as his ball control.
Sonko is apparently a classically trained pianist. It's easy to picture him grinning away while he runs through the Charlie Chaplin film scores. I'd love to hear from fans of Reading, Stoke and Hull: has he been like this for a while, since his 2006 injury perhaps? If Pompey carry on in this vein they will be adrift by October, as they were in the Premier League last season.
And the waterfall? There was a torrential early downpour and all the rain sluiced down the middle of the main stand roof. There were no spectators beneath it but, like Ibrahima Sonko, it was truly spectacular.
