Portsmouth players put the off field turmoil behind them to record three points against a Burnley team who are on place above them. Portsmouth’s nine point deduction is set to be taken off their points tally next week and will be 14 points from safety.

Portsmouth were the first team to get the ball in the back of the net after Danny Webber scored from a Belhadj cross only for the linesman to disallow the goal. Webber had another chance soon after as he was set free in the area but he could only shoot wide. Portsmouth finally got their goal in the 25th minute when O’Hara played Webber through, who crossed the ball in for Piquionne to poke in at the back post. Paterson got Burnley back in the game six minutes after Pompey opened the scoring. It was a long kick up field from Jensen which was flicked on by Steven Fletcher onto Paterson who brilliantly lobbed James for the equaliser.

It was Clarke Carlisle –fresh from his appearance on Channel 4 programme Countdown- who gifted Portsmouth a chance to get back into the lead as he brought down Piquionne in the box, but luckily for him Jensen made a fine save from O’Hara’s penalty. But it didn’t seem as if it was going to be Carlisle’s day as on the 75th minute he gave away another penalty, this time bringing down John Utaka. It was Yebda this time who took the penalty and scored with a pin point finish.

Both teams had chances to score more goals as O’Hara and Utaka made Jensen work hard to keep the goal deficit to one, while Burnley’s chance came from goal scorer Paterson who headed over from 6 yards.

Portsmouth hung on to win the game even though they were reduced to 10 men late on as Rocha was dismissed after receiving his second yellow card.

Burnley Line-Up; Jensen, Carlisle, Mears, Cort, Bikey (Cork 63), Fox, McDonald, Elliott (Eagles 63), Fletcher, Paterson, Blake (Thompson 80) Bench; Weaver, Duff, Edgar, Jordan, Cork, Eagles, Thompson

Portsmouth Line-Up; James, Rocha, Hreidarsson, Finnan, Belhadj, O’Hara (Brown 90), Owusu-Abeyie (Utaka 39), Yebda, Wilson, Piquionne, Webber (Diop 90+3) Bench; Ashdown, Mullins, Diop, Brown, Utaka, Dindane, Kanu

Attendance; 19,714

Referee; Mark Clattenburg

David Osterland