Shortlist may have got shorter for Portsmouth

Fulham 3 Portsmouth 1: It is four months since Harry Redknapp, then the Premiership's manager of the month, made his shock departure…

Fulham 3 Portsmouth 1: It is four months since Harry Redknapp, then the Premiership's manager of the month, made his shock departure from Portsmouth. Still his successor has not been found and the attractiveness of the position is falling by the week.

Portsmouth played some effective football in the first half, with Lomana LuaLua striking what was a singular goal in every sense of the word, beating two players to curl his shot round Edwin van der Sar from 18 yards. Gordon Strachan, who took a seat in the Fulham directors' box, and tipped to be on the short list along with other possible candidates Ronald Koeman and Claudio Ranieri, will hardly have been encouraged by what ensued, however.

Dejan Stefanovic unluckily conceded a penalty in first-half injury-time when his arm was struck by Andrew Cole's cross as he lunged to block and Steed Malbranque stepped up. Jamie Ashdown called it correctly and saved both Malbranque's spot-kick and Luis Boa Morte's follow-up.

The half-time whistle was blown and so, too, was Pompey's challenge. Boa Morte was the catalyst for Fulham's turnaround. The Portuguese, withdrawn from the support striker's role that had restricted his efficacy in the first half, was instructed to run at Portsmouth's fading Steve Stone.

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The former England international was beaten to the by-line and slipped, almost tripping Boa Morte, who kept his feet to drag back his low centre for Cole to drive forcibly home from eight yards.

However, the home side, whose own win-less Premiership run had before the interval looked like extending to six matches, required the assistance of a pair of gross defensive errors to take the three points.

First it was Arjan de Zeeuw, whose heading had been erratic all day, who handed Fulham a route to an open goal. A long clearance from Fulham's own half bounced seemingly innocuously in front of the Dutch centre-back, but his header merely teed up the substitute Brian McBride.

The American pirouetted gracefully and hooked a perfect volley beyond Ashdown. Portsmouth appeared resigned to defeat and their frustration was personified by Gary O'Neil, whose impetuous challenge on Boa Morte brought a yellow card.

The Portugal international would soon have his revenge and this time it was Linvoy Primus who provided the gift. The right-back, not known for his ability to beat players, dwelt too long on the ball and Boa Morte showed there is as much bite as brilliance to his game.

A stern tackle won him the ball and a clear route to goal, he rounded Ashdown and coolly slotted his shot beyond Stefanovic's despairing attempt at a goal-line block.