Brown leads storming of Portsmouth fortress

Sheffield United ensured that the First Division title race is not quite the foregone conclusion it once appeared when Michael Brown drove in an 87th minute winner at Fratton Park last night to inflict upon Portsmouth only their second home defeat.

By extending their unbeaten record in all competitions to 14 games, the Blades closed the gap on the leaders to 10 points. Yet Portsmouth had looked certain of a point, at least, six minutes earlier when Gary O'Neil cancelled out Peter Ndlovu's first-half goal with a deft equaliser from Svetoslav Todorov's pass. O'Neil had been one of three Portsmouth players to strike the woodwork.

With his pace and dainty footwork, Ndlovu stretched Portsmouth's defence whenever United broke up field. He had already narrowly missed their one previous chance, sliding in when Shaun Murphy headed Robert Page's free-kick across goal when, in the 24th minute, he applied a clinical left-footed finish to a neat move featuring Michael Tonge's one-two with Brown.

Brown should most certainly have doubled the visitor's lead 15 minutes later when he was confronted only by Shaka Hislop, after running on to Wayne Quinn's long pass. The goalkeeper did well to deflect the shot onto the bar.

It was a shame, though, that the two players involved in that move should tarnish their team's good work with a couple of rash challenges during an earlier five-minute spell. Brown's scathing lunge on Gianluca Festa would presumably have been of special interest to Gérard Houllier, who complained bitterly last week when Brown was not sent off for bundling into the Liverpool goalkeeper, Chris Kirkland.

Quinn joined Brown in the book of the referee, Clive Wilkes, for a late tackle on O'Neil, who recovered quickly to supply a cross that almost led to a chance for Vincent Pericard. Although O'Neil also bounced a header on to the bar and Todorov failed to capitalise on a chip from Paul Merson, United were worth their interval lead.

Contrary to pre-match speculation, Nick Montgomery, the player they had brought in to replace calf-strain victim Carl Asaba, was shadowing not Merson but Nigel Quashie. Portmouth's midfield lacked its usual fluency and they could have fallen further behind on the restart following a corner taken by Quinn. Hislop flung himself to his left to keep out Murphy's fierce header.

The pitch, frozen on Saturday, was now in mint condition, so much so that Pericard sprang unimpeded for almost 40 yards after leaving Stuart McCall for dead, but his low shot cannoned off the far upright. Quashie, freeing himself for once from Montgomery, drove the next significant attempt at Paddy Kenny, who had recovered after his nasty collision with Pericard during the game's opening seconds. Portsmouth were right out of luck. Their next effort, a free kick from Merson, hit the bar.

Portsmouth (4-3-1-2): Hislop; Primus, Foxe, Festa (Tavlaridis, 75), Taylor; Stone (Harper, 72), O'Neil, Quashie; Merson; Pericard, Todorov (Burton, 86). Substitutes not used: Kawaguchi (gk), Diabate.

Sheffield United (4-4-2): Kenny; Jagielka, Murphy, Page, Quinn; Montgomery, Brown, McCall, Tonge; Allison, Ndlovu. Substitutes not used: Kozluk, Ten-Heuvel, Kabba, Smith, Peschisolido.

Referee: C Wilkes (Gloucester).