Paul Hart took over as manager of Rushden & Diamonds, following the departure of Barry Hunter. After an average start to the season, Diamonds embarked on an eight match winless run, leading to Hart leaving the club in October by mutual consent. Hart joined Premier League club Portsmouth as Director of Youth Operations in 2007. He was asked to take over as caretaker manager, initially for one game only following the sacking of Tony Adams on 9 February 2009. Shortly afterwards, Hart brought Brian Kidd in as his assistant. He won his first game in charge 2–0 at home to Manchester City
Portsmouth F.C. (basketball) three pulled Kingston back to within a single point. Spaid made it 73-70 but Irish's fourth foul could not stop Kenny Scott, whose free-throw drew Kingston level with 4 minutes 20 seconds left. Paul Stimpson then gave Kingston a 73-75 lead before Alan Cunningham took over, sinking four consecutive free-throws then stealing the ball and racing away for a lay-up to put Portsmouth 79-75 clear with 2 minutes 39 seconds remaining. Colin McNish made one from the line and Dan Davis laid up to bring Kingston back to 79-78, then Rich Strong sank a pair of free-throws to edge Portsmouth