A first half goal from David Nugent, his eleventh of the season, was enough to secure three Championship points in this encounter at The Walkers Stadium.
This was the second League victory over Leicester City this season for Pompey giving them their first 'double'. Pompey beat The Foxes 6-1 at Fratton Park on the 24th September.
Pompey made one change to their starting line-up from the previous game against Middlebrough, Liam Lawrence replacing Joel Ward.
Lawrence took over the armband from Dave Kitson. Pompey's club captain Aaron Mokoena wasn't on the bench, reasons unknown at time of writing.
Leicester City had former Pompey player Yakubu Aiyegbeni, on loan from Everton, in their starting line-up.
Piece of Trivia: on the drive up the M1 I was overtaken by a car with the number plate X5 YAK.
There was a well observed minute's silence before the game for those who had lost their lives in the tragedies which had unfolded in Japan over the last week or so following the earthquake and Tsunami. Leicester had Yuki Abe the Japanese international midfielder in their team.
The Leicester City faithful have a well proportioned drummer strategically positioned at the top of one of the stands who sends out regular beats on his drum to rouse the fans into action. He did a stirling job although the home fans did occasionally miss the beat and got frustrated with their team as they failed to put away a string of good chances.
The drummer got a nice round of applause at the start of the match from the Pompey fans as he donned his big floppy hat and proudly showed off his tattoed torso. Unfortunately, as the game progressed he also get plenty of unnecessary abuse as well, which was uncalled for and a shame. I suspect he's used to it but it doesn't make it right. As the home team's chances of securing a draw faded so did the drumbeat.
The game opened brightly as the Spring sunshine bathed most of the ground with both teams having chances on goal. Hermann Hreidarsson was in the thick of the action heading a Greg Halford free-kick at goal which was saved by Ricardo and then clearing the ball away from the danger area at the other end within the space of a few minutes.
The only goal of the game came in the 13th minute and followed a Greg Halford throw in to the penalty box.
The home defence failed to clear the ball far enough away from the danger area and it fell to David Nugent to calmly side foot the ball, on the volley, in to the middle of the goal.
The pitch at The Walkers Stadium has plenty of room for a run up to the touchline before taking a throw which gave Halford's efforts far more momentum than seen at Fratton Park for example with its narrow pitchside track. Throughout the afternoon Halford was launching powerful, long, flat, throw-ins a la Rory Delap at Stoke City and the home team often struggled to deal with them. It was a deliberate ploy, perhaps to unsettle Leicester's goalkeeper Ricardo.
Pompey thrust forward again shortly after scoring through some good work between goalscorer Nugent and Hayden Mullins down the right hand side. On this occasion the move was dealt with by the Foxes' defence.
It was a lively opening quarter of the game and Jamie Ashdown was called in to action to make the first of three excellent saves during the game just after the quarter-hour saving a close range header from Sol Bamba, deflecting it over the cross bar.
The home team had a number of good free-kick opportunities throughout the game, including some during the first half, as they put the Pompey defence under pressure and fouls were conceded. However, they were unable to make any of the chances pay.
The Leicester forward line looked lively on occasions, Gallagher and Yakubu both having good opportunities. However, Pompey's defence kept the Foxes at bay continuing to demonstrate their resilient best that had been demonstrated during recent matches – Bristol City aside. Rocha and Halford in particular looked solid.
In the middle of the field Mullins and Jonathan Hogg found themselves in a bit of a battle and Hogg was booked for a poor challenge on a Leicester player just before the break taking that fiery edge away from his game for the remainder of the match as he avoided a second yellow.
David Nugent was also booked as Hayden Mullins went down injured on the bi-line and rolled off the pitch, Ashdown kicked the ball out of play so he could get some treatment and Nugent appeared to be booked for arguing with the ref about how the throw-in should be handled. As it was the Leicester team threw the ball back straight back to Ashdown, to a chorus of boos from the home fans which continued as Mullins re-joined play.
HT Leicester City 0-1 Portsmouth
Pompey had two clear-cut chances in the second half, both in the last 12 minutes.
The first fell to Dave Kitson on 78 minutes after some really good work by Ritchie de Laet down the right hand side. He used his pace to get in to a good position before crossing the ball to the far post where Kitson got in the header but saw his effort fly wide of the upright.
The second chance fell to Joel Ward in the 82nd minute who had come on as a substitute to replace David Cotterill, allowing Liam Lawrence to play on the right. There was some good build-up play in the lead up to Ward's chance, Pompey's most fluent of the half. Unfortunately, with the goal gaping Ward mis hit his shot and saw it go wide of the target when it looked easier to score. The Pompey fans had monetarily celebrated the 'goal' before realising the ball hadn't hit the net. It was a real “Yes! Goal! Nooooo!” moment.
Leicester had more opportunities in the second half but a combination of poor finishing, good defensive play, good goalkeeping and a bit of luck meant they were unable to get back on level terms.
Jamie Ashdown made two more good saves after the break.
The first from Gallagher, after the Leicester forward found himself one-on-one with the Pompey 'keeper. Ashdown remained on his feet and made himself big to thwart the attempt which came about after a midded header by Halford, one of the few errors by Pompey in the game.
The second came from a Kyle Naughton rasping drive down the right which Ashdown was able to beat away for a corner and safety.
With the ball being driven across the face of goal and free-kicks going very close Leicester will look back on this match as an opportunity lost. It was one of those days for Sven's men.
For Pompey they'll see this as another job well done. Another clean sheet, that's eight out of the last nine matches, and three more valuable points sees Pompey move on to 54 points, 6 points off the play off positions and 19 points above the drop zone. With 8 games remaining it's a healthy state of affairs.
The players and Steve Cotterill all came over to the travelling Pompey fans at the end of the game to thank them for their excellent support.
It's not over until the fat lady sings or perhaps until the fat man drums: Leicester City with one point more have as good a chance as Pompey to squeeze in to the play-offs but they'll need to be more clinical in front of goal.
FT Leicester City 0-1 Portsmouth
Portsmouth versus Leicester City: Jamie Ashdown, Ritchie de Laet, Greg Halford, Ricardo Rocha, Hermann Hreidarsson, Jonathan Hogg, Hayden Mullins, David Cotterill, Liam Lawrence, David Nugent and Dave Kitson. Substitutes: Daryll Flahavan, Carl Dickinson, Tom Kilbey, Joel Ward, Nadir Ciftci and Kanu
MOTM: A tricky one as there are a number of good candidates. David Nugent worked tirelessly throughout the game before being substituted in the second half and replaced by Carl Dickinson. Dave Kitson had a pretty effective game up front, he played more central than in previous games. Jamie Ashdown made a number of good saves during the second half especially to ensure Pompey's lead was maintained. Both Ricardo Rocha and Greg Halford had good games at the back to stifle Gallagher, Yakubu and Vassell. If push comes to shove I'll go for Greg Halford.
Attendance: 26,645 (including 1,001 Pompey fans in good voice as usual).
Next up for Pompey: Reading away on Saturday April 2nd, kick-off 3PM. This will prove an interesting encounter between the two teams in 3rd (Reading) and 4th (Pompey) places of the current form table.
BlueThruAndThru
