Pompey equalled a club record of 19 games without a win as they went down to a 2-0 loss at south coast rivals Bournemouth.
Despite an encouraging performance from Guy Whittingham’s side, the high-flying Cherries ran out worthy winners with second-half strikes from Lewis Grabban and Marc Pugh.
Whittingham swung the axe after the midweek 2-1 defeat at Scunthorpe to make six changes to the side.
That included three debutants in John Akinde, Patrick Agyemang and Therry Racon, who all joined yesterday, and were all thrown straight in for starts.
While Bournemouth enjoyed most of the pressure and possession in the first 45 minutes, there were precious few goalscoring opportunities for either side.
Pompey looked far more solid in defence and with Akinde and Agyemang, they had a real physical and aerial threat that they hadn’t had previously.
As expected, the Cherries kept the ball for long periods and attempted to unpick the Blues defence, while Pompey were happy to play a more direct game on the break.
But chances were at a premium until a late flurry towards the end of the half as Grabban latched on to a though ball, rounded a hesitant Simon Eastwood but couldn’t convert from a tight angle.
Pompey had their own opportunity moments later as Adam Reed’s effort tested Shawn Jalal but the best chance of the half arrived in stoppage-time as the woodwork saved Pompey.
A fiery cross from Simon Francis found Brett Pitman, but his glancing header rattled back off the underside of the crossbar to ensure honours were even at the break.
The second period was a more open affair and Pompey were far more of an attacking threat in the early part of the half.
Agyemang wasted a golden opportunity just 10 minutes into the second half as he headed wide from Yassin Moutaouakil’s inviting cross.
And Pompey were enjoying their best spell of the game when they fell behind just beyond the hour mark.
Josh McQuoid found space down the right, whipped in a low cross to find Grabban in acres of space who had time to take a few touches and bury a low shot into the bottom corner.
It was a tough blow to take for Pompey who had looked to be gaining confidence as the game wore on.
But the goal knocked the stuffing out of them and the Cherries wrapped the game up 13 minutes from time.
Pugh raced on to Pitman’s hooked through ball and nonchalantly rolled his effort into the far corner to effectively seal the game and send Pompey to a ninth straight loss.
League One
BOURNEMOUTH 2 (Grabban 63, Pugh 77)
POMPEY 0
Att: 9,135
Bournemouth: Jalal, Francis, Cook, Seaborne, Ritchie, McQuoid, Arter (Hughes 83), O’Kane, Pugh, Grabban (Tubbs 82), Pitman. Subs: Allsop, Partington, MacDonald, Fogden, Fletcher.
Pompey: Eastwood, Moutaouakil, Gyepes, Rocha, Butler, Cooper (Walker 82), Reed, Ertl (c), Racon (Wallace 69); Agyemang (Keene 65), Akinde. Subs: Smith, Webster, Sodje, Harris.
Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands).
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