On his return to Fratton Park with Nottingham Forest, just three weeks after his departure to the City Ground, Steve Cotterill saw his new side concede three goals and leave the South Coast empty handed.
Two goals from Norwegian international Erik Huseklepp and one from Dave Kitson saw Pompey home.
Liam Lawrence dropped out of the team due to the injury he picked up at Selhurst Park and passed the captain's armband to David Norris.
Joel Ward dropped to the bench.
Abdul Rasak, on loan from Manchester City, joined Huseklepp in the starting line-up.
There was no place on the bench for either Aaron Mokoena who had started the match against Crystal Palace or Marko Futacs.
Greg Halford was declared fit for this match having missed out against Crystal Palace with a shoulder injury.
Prior to the start of the match there was a minute's silence to honour Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday which fell the following weekend. Members of the armed services were present.
The first half was mainly fragmented and scrappy with a number of interruptions for injuries to players from both sides.
The referee Mr Bates was also a bit whistle happy, stopping the play on a couple of occasions when it would have been better to play the advantage.
The away team had the better of the chances in the first half with the lively Lewis McGugan in the thick of the action.
He curled a long distance free kick over the cross bar in the first five minutes of the match, a second free-kick was palmed over by Stephen Henderson just after the half-hour and he had a great chance to score after good work down the right but Henderson again rescued Pompey and smothered the ball before he could fire off a shot.
However, the fans will remember the first half for a great strike that gave Pompey the lead just before the break.
Hayden Mullins had a terrific shot which he volleyed against the cross bar, the ball rebounded in to the path of Huseklepp on the left who cut inside and curled a fantatsic right footed shot in to the far corner.
HT: Portsmouth 1-0 Nottingham Forest
After the break Pompey had two good chances to increase their lead.
The first through David Norris who forced Lee Camp in the Forest goal in to a fine save.
The second chance fell to Dave Kitson who worked his way well in to the box but saw his attempted lob from close range fly over the cross bar.
With just a single goal in the game Nottingham Forest were still very much in it and Pompey had Hayden Mullins and Stephen Henderson to thank for keeping them in it.
Mullins cleared Luke Chambers’ header off the line and Henderson made a fantastic save, palming the ball around the post from Robert Findley’s shot on the turn. It was a crucial moment in the game.
Erik Huseklepp was coming in to the game more and more. He has an interesting demeanour. Without the ball he looks lazy and dis interested. As soon as he gets the ball he sparks in to life and looks a different player.
The second goal came after Dave Kitson showed some persistence to win a corner kick which was taken by Huseklepp. Kitson's reward was to find himself unmarked in the box and able to head home to make it two-nil.
Shortly aftewards Huseklepp was on the end of a David Norris cross from the left to nip in front of the defender and put Pompey three goals ahead.
Greg Halford almost made it four-nil at the end but his header bounced in to the turf and clipped the bar before going out of play.
FT: Portsmouth 3-0 Nottingham Forest
The 'Welcome Back' Chants For Steve Cotterill
There was some good banter during the match from the Pompey fans aimed at Steve Cotterill.
It started off in the first half with a "Stevie give us a wave" which he duely responded to only to be rewarded by a few harsh chants of "w*nker, w*nker!".
In the second half as the scoreline got worse for the returning manager the Fratton End fans chimed up with a number of chants including: "Your taxi's outside!", "Taxi for Cotterill", "You're getting sacked in the morning!" and "Three-nil to the four-four-two!".
Portsmouth versus Nottingham Forest: Stephen Henderson, Greg Halford, Ricardo Rocha, Jason Pearce, Tal Ben Haim, Abdul Razak, Hayden Mullins, David Norris (c), Erik Huseklepp, Dave Kitson, Luke Varney. Substitutes: Jamie Ashdown, Bjorn Helge Riise, King Kanu, Joel Ward, Benjani.
Attendance: 14,207
MOTM: the official MOTM award went to Erik Huseklepp and was well deserved. He scored two goals including his cracker in the first half and he took the corner from which Dave Kitson scored.
Next up for Pompey: due to the international break Pompey's next game is against Watford away at Vicarage Road on Saturday 19th November at 3PM
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