Football story by Dominic Taylor, Mon, 30 Jan 2006 11:24:00 GMT


Harry Redknapp's Fratton Park sojourn has so far proved to be futile, notwithstanding the arrival of Alexandre Gaydamak. Portsmouth were beaten 1-2 by a resurgent Liverpool in their fourth round FA Cup tie. What this means is that Pompey can now direct all their energies at staying in the Premiership.

Most of the action took place in the first half, but Dejan Stefanovic was unlucky to be penalized for a handball and Steven Gerrard scored of the resulting penalty on 37 minutes. Norwegian defender John Arne Riise made it 2-0 on the 40th minute when he fired past a hapless Dean Kiely.

After the break, the Reds were content to sit back and play out the game, but Pompey pulled one back courtesy Davis early in the second half to keep their hopes alive. But having Vincent Pericard as their lone striker obviously did not help and even though Karadas replaced him in the 66th minute, Liverpool were able to stave off whatever challenge Pompey threw at them.

Rafael Benitez sounded happy to go through to the fifth round, "They put us under a lot of pressure but we want to win every game and the most important thing is we are in the hat for the last 16," he said. Redknapp was a bit more cautious in his outlook, "I was looking for a reaction in the second half and I got it. The boys showed a lot of character and if they can repeat that sort of performance in the league I am confident we can survive."

Match Details
Referee: P Dowd (Staffordshire).

Portsmouth: Kiely, Primus (Priske 88), Stefanovic, O'Brien, Vignal (Todorov 45), O'Neil, Davis, Pedro Mendes, Hughes, Taylor, Pericard (Karadas 66).
Goals: Davis 54.

Liverpool: Reina, Kromkamp, Hyypia, Carragher, Warnock, Gerrard (Finnan 80), Alonso, Sissoko, Riise, Cisse (Kewell 83), Morientes (Crouch 72).
Goals: Gerrard 37 penalty, Riise 41.

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