Ipswich 3 - 0 Portsmouth
Perhaps the champagne-coloured strip gave a clue to what Portsmouth had been up to since winning promotion to the Premiership last Tuesday but it was Ipswich who provided the fizz yesterday as Town gave a mighty boost to their play-off hopes and handed the south coast club their worst defeat of the season.
A blistering first half saw Martijn Reuser pick up a loose cross-field pass by Arjan de Zeeuw in the centre circle and stroll forward unchallenged before driving in a low angled shot from 25 yards in the 11th minute.
Then Tommy Miller found himself in acres of space as Pablo Counago pulled the ball back and the midfielder's 12-yard shot was cleared off the line by Linvoy Primus. Miller hit the mark in the 27th minute when De Zeeuw could only clear a Matt Richards cross and fire at the Ipswich midfielder who drove in from 10 yards.
Hungover Pompey were three down on the half-hour when Counago cracked an angled shot into the top corner.
Town were denied a penalty in the second half before Steve Stone appeared to flap down a Reuser header.
Hislop caught a Miller cross but his opposite number Andy Marshall was left in peace as Harry Redknapp's side looked devoid of ideas.
The Pompey manager tried to liven things up with three second-half substitutions but Ipswich strolled to victory.
Redknapp had tipped Ipswich for promotion at the start of the season and if their form had been like this before the new year they would surely already be promoted.