Portsmouth 3 Heerenveen 0:PORTSMOUTH'S MAIDEN European voyage may have already been over, but two goals from Peter Crouch last night ensured they at least bade the Uefa Cup a fond farewell.
The England striker scored a double just before the interval and Portsmouth not only successfully held on to their 2-0 lead but added to it in stoppage time through Hermann Hreidarsson.
How the Fratton Park faithful wished Pompey had managed that against AC Milan three weeks ago.
Portsmouth's chances of qualifying from the group stages were ended by a 3-2 defeat by Wolfsburg, rendering last night's match a dead rubber between the bottom two sides in the group.
The build-up was overshadowed by news the club had accepted a reported offer for midfielder Lassana Diarra from Real Madrid.
Diarra was unsurprisingly absent from Fratton Park as Portsmouth manager Tony Adams made six changes from the weekend defeat to Newcastle, with Sol Campbell rested and Jermain Defoe on the bench.
Jamie Ashdown was given a chance in the Portsmouth goal and he was pressed into action immediately as Heerenveen made a lively start, with Paulo Henrique forcing a smart save before Roy Beerens struck the post after latching onto a ball in behind Portsmouth full-back Marc Wilson.
Portsmouth were looking slick in attack but the number of wasted chances was beginning to be of some concern before Crouch finally reaped the dividends.
Mvuemba cut the ball back to Wilson, who floated another cross towards the far post and this time Crouch connected well with his downward header to put Portsmouth 1-0 up.
And within a minute, those early misses were forgotten as Crouch doubled the advantage with his first brace of the season.
Kanu tricked his way into the box with a mazy run and when his shot was saved, Crouch pounced to slot home the rebound.
Portsmouth were cut open just after the hour when Heerenveen's half-time replacement Tarik Elyounoussi found himself clean through but dragged his low shot wide of the near post.
Crouch had another far-post chance that would have sealed his hat-trick but goalkeeper Brian Vandenbussche closed him down well and smothered the header.
The match was petering out as a contest before Nadir Belhadj was fouled on the edge of the Portmouth box and, after a scuffle, Hreidarsson rose to head home Glen Little's free-kick in stoppage time.
PORTSMOUTH: Ashdown; Wilson, Pamarot, Hreidarsson, Belhadj; Mvuemba, Diop (Davis, 82), Hughes, Traore (Little, 62); Kanu, Crouch. Subs not used: James, Defoe, Distin, Kranjcar
HEERENVEEN: Vandenbussche; Breuer (Smarason 29), Nielsen, Dingsdag, Popov; Vayrynen, Svec, Grindheim (Janmaat, 82); Beerens (Elyounoussi, h-t), Sibon, Henrique. Subs not used: Zeinstra, Kpic, Jong-A-Pin, Deekman
Referee R Havrilla (Slovakia).
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