Championship - Rampant Portsmouth crush Leicester

Fri, 24 Sep 21:40:00 2010

Portsmouth secured their first win of the season with an emphatic 6-1 win over a dismal Leicester City in their Championship clash at Fratton Park.

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The victory was set up courtesy of a first-half brace from Liam Lawrence as the transfer deadline day signing from Stoke City made his mark, doubling Pompey's goal tally for the season in the process.

Paulo Sousa's beleaguered Foxes were reduced to 10 men on the half hour, and Portsmouth were rampant thereafter as David Nugent added a third, then his strike partner Dave Kitson netted a brisk brace.

Steve Howard grabbed a consolation strike for the visitors, but Portsmouth re-established their four-goal cushion with Kitson's second, before Michael Brown scored a dreamy sixth in stoppage time to apply the proverbial icing on the cake.

Steve Cotterill's side began the evening rock bottom of the league, but played with a confidence and verve which belied their lowly position as they got their campaign off and running and stunning fashion.

Leicester have not scored in the first half of a game all season, and the match was effectively over after a nightmare opening period for Sousa's side. An innocuous corner kick was inexplicably handled by defender Michael Morrison to hand Portsmouth a penalty from absolutely nowhere in just the ninth minute.

Lawrence stepped up and slammed home the resulting spot kick to open his account, with Conrad Logan sent the wrong way in the Leicester goal.

Leicester launched a fleeting attack as Lloyd Dyer squared the ball across the Pompey box to Andy King, but the midfielder strayed narrowly offside before applying the finish and the goal was disallowed.

The Foxes' night took another turn for the worse on the half hour mark as Miguel Vitor, making his Leicester debut, hauled down Nugent on the edge of his box, and the defender was promptly shown the red card.

Lawrence stepped up to lash a low drive on target from the set piece, and the ball was cruelly deflected beyond Logan as the hosts doubled their lead in clinical fashion.

Carl Dickinson struck the crossbar with a freakish long-range effort in the 58th minute, and seconds later it was three. Kitson, who only arrived at the ground 30 minutes before kick off due to bad traffic, hammered a fierce shot on target which Logan parried into the path of Nugent, and the forward scored at the second opportunity.

Seconds later, and it was four: Straight from the kick off Nugent dispossessed the hapless Morrison and promptly laid the ball off to Kitson, who coolly dinked an exquisite finish over the diving Logan.

Howard grabbed a goal back with an opportunist close-range finish following Robbie Neilson's long throw, but Kitson restored the hosts' four-goal cushion with a composed finish in the 83rd minute.

Leicester were willing the full-time whistle to sound, but Portsmouth were flying and Brown dribbled mesmerically through the visitors half before rounding Logan and sliding the ball into an empty net from a tight angle.

The South Coast side leapfrog Leicester in the table to move into 20th place, while the Foxes are left languishing second from bottom of the table.

Dan Quarrell / Eurosport
