Nonda grabs brace in Blackburn win

Striker Shabani Nonda seized upon a pair of Pompey defensive blunders to put Blackburn back into the Barclays Premiership top 10 with a 3-0 win over Portsmouth.

Nonda hooked home the opener after just 57 seconds after Sol Campbell’s poor back-header, and added his second in the 25 minute when David James made a hash of a David Bentley cross.

Stephen Warnock added a third for Rovers five minutes after the break but Nonda blew his chance of a hat-trick when he saw his poor 58th-minute penalty saved by James.

Pompey belatedly stirred with O’Neil, their best player by some margin, sending in a neat cross to Andy Cole who sent a powerful header over the bar from eight yards.

But Rovers still looked likeliest to add to their tally and substitute Jason Roberts came close in the 77th minute with a low shot which James tipped around his post.

Nonda came close to completing his hat-trick 10 minutes from time when he just failed to bundle the ball over James in a crowded box.

And he was again denied by the keeper five minutes later when he turned Primus in the box only to see his rising effort tipped over the bar by the alert keeper.