Ipswich spoil Portsmouth party

FT Ipswich 3 Portsmouth 0

A magnificent first half display moved Ipswich to within a point of the Nationwide Division One play-off zone after securing victory over newly-promoted Portsmouth.

Superbly executed goals from Martijn Reuser, Tommy Miller and the impressive Pablo Counago earned Town a commanding advantage at the interval against a Portsmouth side whose minds were clearly on their summer holidays rather than football.

And things could have been even worse for the visitors had referee Eddie Wolstenholme not overlooked Gianluca Festa’s elbow on Reuser and Steve Stone’s clear handball in the penalty area.

The second period was a much more low-key affair as Portsmouth finally sparked into life. But Ipswich’s intricate passing game gave them the edge all evening and they ran out easy winners.

Ipswich dominated the early exchanges and it was no surprise when they took the lead after 11 minutes.

Arjan De Zeeuw’s hapless square ball across the face of goal was pounced upon by Reuser – only in the starting XI because of an injury to Richard Naylor – who had space to bear down on goal before unleashing a fine 25-yard strike that took a fortunate bounce over the despairing dive of goalkeeper Shaka Hislop.

Pompey battled back gamely and Festa thought he had equalised when his speculative long-range drive was expertly parried around the post by Andy Marshall.

However, Festa was fortunate to be still on the field as Wolstenholme should have sent off the former Middlesbrough man – who had already been booked for dissent after 27 seconds – for an elbow on Reuser after 21 minutes.

Ipswich maintained their composure and doubled their lead after 27 minutes. Matthew Richards’ teasing ball from the left flank was not dealt with and Miller was on hand to prod the ball past Hislop with his left foot.

And three minutes later Counago added a brilliant third.

The Spanish marksman turned De Zeeuw inside out before hitting a wonderful strike that soared into the roof of the net from the right side of the penalty box.

A few choice words from Pompey manager Harry Redknapp at the interval had the desired effect as his side began to exhibit the qualities that have made them such a force this season.

Svetoslav Todorov had been a virtual spectator for much of the game but was finally provided with the service to get behind Ipswich’s back four.

However, Town were happy to sit back, defend in numbers and reduce Portsmouth to hopeful long-range strikes such as Nigel Quashie’s wayward effort just before the hour mark.

Ipswich’s were also still creating chances, and Wolstenholme enraged the home fans further after he failed to see Stone’s blatant handball that deflected Reuser’s 64th-minute goalbound header to safety.

Redknapp brought Gary O’Neill, Vincent Pericard and Kevin Harper into the action to give his side another attacking dimension but the triple substitution merely stiffened Ipswich’s resolve.

But the scoreline was irrelevant to Portsmouth fans whose celebrations at already being promoted masked the result as Wolstenholme signalled the end of the contest amidst loud cheers from both sets of supporters.

And on the evidence of tonight’s performance, Ipswich may have further cause to party at the end of the season.