#20: Morten Gamst Pedersen, Portsmouth 0-1 Rovers, Saturday 15th January 2005

As something of a calendar savant, I regularly find myself thinking back to who Rovers were playing on the same day in years gone by.

It often brings up fascinating quirks in the fixture list and occasionally positive omens for successful repeats of what has happened in the past.

Zanda Birtwistle and Martin Brunnschweiler have already pointed out to me that the Rovers v Plymouth match on Saturday 15th February will fall on the identical date as the same fixture 50 years ago. That was one of the most famous matches in the club’s history as Rovers recovered from 2-0 down to win 5-2 in a Division Three top-of-the-table clash. 

As Rovers prepare to face Portsmouth tonight in a rearranged fixture, it has brought back memories of when we played Pompey exactly 20 years ago to the day. Although that 2004/05 Premier League fixture was at Fratton Park, it proved to be a hugely significant match in the Mark Hughes era.

It’s often forgotten how poor the club’s form was after he took charge in September – only one win was recorded in autumn after the victory against Portsmouth when Matt Jansen came off the bench to score the winner.

Rovers and Portsmouth were deep in the relegation mix in 16th and 17th positions when the reverse fixture came around.

Both Ryan Nelsen and Aaron Mokoena were thrown straight into the Rovers defence for their league debuts, with Nelsen in an unfamiliar right back position. They would soon both become notorious for their tough tackling and they duly received yellow cards before half-time in a tempestuous match.

Nils-Eric Johansson, Brett Emerton, Tugay and Paul Dickov were also booked – so in one of the great mysteries, Andy Todd walked off with an unblemished record.

After the infamous Dugarry incident, most were expecting another rash moment when Todd moved his head towards Lomana LuaLua, but it was the Pompey striker who reacted with a headbutt and was sent off. This was a big turning point in Todd’s Rovers career: his improved self-control led to him having a prolonged spell as captain and being named Player of the Year.

Meanwhile, Morten Gamst Pedersen was staying well out of the heat waiting to inject some quality into proceedings. He’d been in cold storage for months until a late injury gave him a chance in the FA Cup against Cardiff a week earlier, where he took his opportunity by clipping the ball over the keeper with his left foot in a 1-1 draw.

Pedersen doubled down on his sliding doors moment by proving he could expertly chip one over an onrushing keeper with his right foot too. 

David Thompson, the creator again in a rare central midfield role, drove through the middle and shoved aside a tackler, before putting Pedersen through on goal in a similar position to Cardiff. Out came Shaka Hislop and the Norwegian produced the most delightful dink into the goal. 

[Pedersen's goal in the above video is at 8:22]

This was another of my “If you don’t want to know the score…” matches and I must have rewatched the goal a dozen times on the taped highlights from Match of the Day. It was the perfect winner – one moment of class in a very ugly match, which ended with Portsmouth down to nine men after Amdy Faye’s lunge on Brad Friedel.

He was now undroppable as Hughes steered Rovers clear of relegation danger and took the club to an FA Cup semi-final in Cardiff.

Pedersen scored many famous goals for Rovers – this is perhaps an underrated and forgotten classic which was pivotal in turning around his own and the club’s fortunes in that era.

Rovers: Friedel; Nelsen, Todd, Mokoena, Johansson; Emerton, Tugay (Reid 76), Thompson, Pedersen; Gallagher (Jansen 74), Dickov. Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Stead, Gray.

*This article forms part of the 101 Great Rovers Goals series. We're cruising along to completion of the project so please email any contributions to [email protected] to get your favourite added!