Pompey parade supremacy
Coventry City 0 Portsmouth 4
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Your support makes all the difference.How the fortunes of these two clubs continue to hurtle in opposite directions. Victory by a four-goal flourish makes Portsmouth ever more certain of only their second top-flight campaign in 44 seasons. However, Coventry's 34 successive years of first-grade football are already a faded memory and they are now in crisis following eight defeats in 10 games. All hope of the play-offs have disappeared but new horizons are opening up for Pompey, who were three up by the 23rd minute.
With 82 points and 81 goals, they can afford to be content with life, although manager Harry Redknapp is uninterested by talk of reaching 100 points. "It would be nice, but just to get more than anyone else is what it's all about,'' he said: "First and foremost, we want promotion but I told the players before kick-off that we want to win the championship as well because we have led the table for so long.
"To score four goals here is terrific. It was a great performance because I thought Coventry's midfield looked as strong as anything in the division.''
Coventry had by far the more scoring attempts but manager Gary McAllister admitted his side were outclassed. They could well have done without the helping hand two defenders gave Pompey in the 14th minute. Calum Davenport failed to cut out a routine through ball, Portsmouth's Svetoslav Todorov sidefooted against the post, and Gary Caldwell diverted the rebound into his own net.
Davenport erred again when Yakub Ayegbeni dispossessed him on the left and Gary O'Neill helped on his cross for Steve Stone to slide home three minutes later.
Halfway through the first half, the game was over when Ayegbeni's masterly footwork outwitted Craig Pead and enabled Kevin Harper to shoot in for No 3.
Julian Joachim and Eustace demanded fine saves from Shaka Hislop but Portsmouth were good enough to pick off the free-falling Sky Blues on the break and Paul Merson drove in the fourth in the 68th minute, his left-foot shot crossing the line despite Morten Hyldgaard's attempt to save.
While Coventry still await a first home league win this year, Portsmouth can reflect on a sequence of seven wins in nine. Only Sheffield United's regained winning habit is preventing them celebrating automatic promotion in double-quick time.
Coventry City (4-4-2): Hyldgaard; Pead, Davenport, Shaw, Caldwell; Eustace, McAllister, Safri (McSheffrey, 65), Chippo (Whing, 86), Holdsworth, Joachim. Substitutes not used: Jansen, Debec (gk), Engonga.
Portsmouth (3-5-2): Hislop; Foxe, De Zeeuw (Heikkinen, 25), Festa; Stone (Diabaté, 75),O'Neill, Sherwood, Merson, Harper; Todorov (Péricard 68), Ayegbeni. Substitutes not used: Kawaguchi, Burton.
Referee: M Ryan (Lancashire).
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