Mihailo Ivanovic and Ra’ees Bangura-Williams gave Millwall fans a sense of deja vu as they combined for the only goal in a 1-0 victory for the second match in a row.
Striker Ivanovic fired home a spectacular winner after a Bangura-Williams pass in their win over Luton Town on Saturday, and the duo continued their partnership at Portsmouth to ease the Lions’ relegation fears with back-to-back away successes.
Pompey dominated possession but could not find a breakthrough as their seven-game run without losing at home was ended and they sit just two points outside the drop zone.
This fixture was meant to be played in November, but a floodlight failure minutes before kick-off saw it postponed.
Winger Bangura-Williams would have wished no one could have seen his open-goal miss in the fourth minute. Aaron Connolly got down the left flank and placed a low ball perfectly for Bangura-Williams but from two yards, he somehow failed to hit the target.
The visitors created a second gilt-edged chance in the 18th minute, as Tristan Crama won the first header from a corner but a completely unmarked Ivanovic could only head straight into the side-netting.
But the men guilty of the two misses combined for the second match in a row to put Millwall ahead five minutes before half-time.
Bangura-Williams slid a weighted pass in behind centre-back Hayden Matthews which Ivanovic chased down and clipped past Nicolas Schmid. For Bangura-Williams it was a third assist in as many matches.
It meant Pompey were behind at half-time at Fratton Park for the first time since September but they had been far from outplayed, having almost double the shots and possession.
Their game plan revolved around crosses from wide areas but Callum Lang scooped one effort over and headed another straight at full debutant Liam Roberts as the hosts failed to make their 65 per cent possession count.
The second half followed a similar pattern of Portsmouth half-chances with little bite, their flow upset by the visitors’ game management and staunch defending.
Pompey’s first big chance of the second half came just after the hour mark as Josh Murphy scampered down the left but Matt Ritchie’s header squeezed wide.
Jake Cooper came to the rescue just as Lang was ready to tap in a Murphy centre as the defensive rearguard helped give Roberts a quiet night – with Millwall still only conceding 14 goals on the road this season, only bettered by the top four.
In fact, the best chance of the second half fell to Connolly in stoppage time but his curling shot whistled narrowly wide, with Colby Bishop summing up Pompey’s efforts with a looping header over the bar.
