Pompey face a battle to stay in the Championship following a 1-0 defeat at home to Ipswich Town tonight, although there was a controversial disallowed goal in the game that might have changed the outcome.
The game was a scrappy affair which started with the visitors on the attack as Pompey scrambled the ball out of the box in the first minute and then hit the bar with a looping header soon after.
The pressure continued as the home defence struggled to contain the Ipswich strikers and Michael Chopra pounced from a yard out after Darryl Murphy's strike hit the post to give Paul Jewell's side the lead.
Pompey continued to struggle with passes going astray and defenders making late challenges. Marko Futacs had a shot on goal that was easily gathered by Arran Lee-Barrett and that was as good as it got for the home crowd.
Stephen Henderson was kept busy at the other end of the pitch as he had to beat away Adam Drury's effort after the Ipswich midfielder had been given far too much space to shoot in what was a poor first half performance.
There was a slight improvement as the second half got underway with a few "nearly" moments as Ipswich defenders had to make some last-ditch challenges to deny Pompey players some excellent goalscoring opportunities.
More opportunities came when Futacs blasted over the bar having turned one of the Ipswich players in the box.
Dave Kitson, on as a sub for Liam Lawrence, then squandered an even better chance when Kelvin Etuhu squared the ball across goal but he fired the ball wide.
Ipswich were still dangerous on the break and forced some more manic defending from the Pompey back four before Lee Martin shot over the bar when it looked easier to score.
The game's controversial moment came when Greg Halford's throw in saw the ball take a knock from Damien Delaney into the back of his own net, but referee Darren Deadman failed to see that and disallowed what should have been a legitimate goal.
There was one more "nearly" moment for Pompey as Tal Ben-Haim's ball across the goal should was inches away from being turned in by Benjani and Kitson.
However, Ipswich probably should have had the game won but Martin's finishing let him down again as his effort crashed off the post.
Pompey pressed for an equaliser in the five minutes of stoppage time but couldn't find an equaliser. To add injury to insult, Greg Halford had be substituted with what looked like a nasty problem.
That summed up a bad evening for Pompey in terms of matters on the pitch. The defending was awry, the passing was poor and the Ipswich players showed more desire which simply isn't acceptable given the current state the club is in.
Michael Appleton will have to pick his players up quickly for the trip to Barnsley because as it stands, Pompey will be level on points with both Coventry and Nottingham Forest and would only be out of the bottom three on goal difference.
On a final note, during the second half of the game tonight it was amazing to hear the 14,000 Pompey fans sing "we will never die" constantly for a good ten minutes. Whilst the park might not have been as packed as we might have hoped, those who went surely made their voices heard.
Such fantastic support deserves better than what is currently happening to Portsmouth Football Club. Roll on Friday.
Pompey Player Ratings
Stephen Henderson: 6 - Had no chance with the goal.
Tal Ben-Haim: 5 - Defending was slack.
Ricardo Rocha: 7 - Seemed to be a one-man defence at times.
Jason Pearce: 5 - Struggled to contain Ipswich forwards.
Greg Halford: 5 - A weak showing.
Kelvin Etuhu: 6 - Improved in the second half after a poor first half.
Hayden Mullins: 5 - Outbattled.
Liam Lawrence: 6 - Best player until injury.
Joel Ward: 5 - Not in the game.
Erik Huseklepp: 5 - Ipswich defence had him contained.
Marko Futacs: 5 - Wasted a couple of decent chances.
Substitutes
Jamie Ashdown
Adam Webster (Halford 90): N/A - On after a nasty injury to Halford.
Aaron Mokoena
Dave Kitson (Lawrence 44): 5 - Wasted a great chance.
Benjani (Etuhu 79): N/A - Barely even touched the ball.