JACKETT: WERE CLINICAL

Pompey strength too much for Cats

shown a straight red card and Sunderland’s misery was compounded when the everreliable Evans smashed in the resulting penalty.

Republic of Ireland international Curtis can consider himself lucky to escape with a yellow card for a high tackle on Max Power.

Only a minute later Curtis doubled Pompey’s lead from an acute angle. Ten-man Sunderland could have folded at 2-0 down, but pulled a goal back shortly after as Luke O’Nien found some space at the back post to convert Reece James’ delivery. The Black Cats’ hopes of staging an unlikely comeback in front of their vocal travelling army of away fans were dashed when Ben Thompson’s deflected shot restored Pompey’s twogoal lead shortly after the hour mark.

Pompey managed to see out the rest of the game with relative ease and Brett Pitman had a fourth goal ruled out for offside.

Sunderland manager Jack Ross felt the sending off changed the game and said: “We did well to come away in this environment and control the first half. We had a group in here at half-time who believed they could replicate it and then go on and win the game, that’s why we came here.

“The red card isn’t a red card because under the new guidelines there’s no genuine attempt to win the ball, but there’s no attempt to bring him down.

“It’s a coming together. It is a penalty kick, but I know there was a change to avoid that double jeopardy.

“The legs catch each other and my understanding is that it isn’t a red card.

“If we had managed to stay at 2-1 for a little bit longer the end of the game would have been interesting.

“Our resilience level at not buckling was impressive again. We’ll take our medicine. We lost the game. There’s a long way to go this season.

“There are large parts of that match our group will take confidence from.”

PORTSMOUTH: MacGillivray 7, N Thompson 6, Whatmough 6, Clarke 6, Brown 7, Naylor 6, B Thompson 7, Lowe 6, Evans 9 (Close 72, 6), Curtis 7 (Green 88), Hawkins 7 (Pitman 80, 6). Subs not used: Walkes, Burgess, Wheeler, Bass.

SUNDERLAND: McLaughlin 5, O’Nien 5, Loovens 4, Baldwin 6, James 6, Cattermole 56, Power 6, McGeady 5 (Sinclair 79, 6), Honeyman 5 (Maguire 59, 5), Gooch 6, Watmore 5 (Ozturk 49, 6). Subs not used: Oviedo, McGeouch, Maja, Ruiter.

KENNY Jackett praised his Portsmouth side’s ruthlessness after edging out 10-man Sunderland in a thrilling top-of-the-table showdown.

A Gareth Evans penalty coupled with goals from Ronan Curtis and Ben Thompson ensured leaders Pompey came out on top in the battle of the League One big-guns.

Jackett said: “It was quite a low key first half, with both sides cancelling each other out.

“We talked at half-time about not leaving anything out there. In terms of the players, they did that in the second half. I’m pleased to say we capitalised on the fact it was 11 v 10.

“It’s very easy to get nervous, we didn’t sit back we kept going for more goals and three was obviously enough for us and we had more chances in a strong performance second half.

“Credit to the players for their efforts so far and they deserve credit for their consistency and their preparation.

“As everyone will tell you, you can’t get promoted at Christmas, but you can give yourself a chance.

“With the points total we have, we’ve got a good chance that we want to capitalise on. It’s been a lot of hard work so far and, as long as we recognise that and stay humble and work hard, we’ll be fine.

“We will take it one game at a time and not look at the big picture too much. Sunderland are an excellent team and quite rightly one of the favourites. It was two big clubs today in an excellent game in which I’m pleased we came out on top.”

This was one of the most eagerly anticipated matches at Fratton Park since Pompey dropped out of the Premier League in 2010.

There was not an empty seat in the house – or even in the press box – as the two teams took to the field for kick-off. The first half was tense and tight as the two promotion rivals tried to feel each other out much like two heavyweight boxers in the early rounds of a title bout.

The second 45 minutes were much more dramatic.

Pompey were gifted the chance to take the lead three minutes after the interval when Glenn Loovens brought down Oli Hawkins when he was through on goal. Loovens was