Rob Atkinson scored an unusual ‘hat-trick’ as he earned Portsmouth a dramatic 2-2 draw against relegation rivals Derby at Fratton Park.
The centre-back had cancelled out Jerry Yates’ opener before putting through his own goal in a manic five minutes of a crunch encounter.
Pompey had seen Colby Bishop’s early penalty saved but secured a point when Atkinson found the net for the third time in stoppage time.
County had only picked up 11 away points all season while Pompey had won 10 of their last 14 at home – but there was nervous energy on the south coast.
Matt Ritchie found himself clear behind the Derby defence in the fifth minute but was taken out by goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom.
Zetterstrom escaped with a yellow card but Pompey were awarded their sixth penalty of the season – more than any other Championship club.
Bishop – a Nottingham Forest fan who played for Derby from the age of seven to his release at 15 – stepped up but his powerful strike was saved by Zetterstrom.
The ball bounced from one end to the other as things went from frenetic to frantic, with Craig Forsyth blazing over the bar for the Rams after being teed up by Matt Clarke in the box.
Marcus Harness then attempted an in-swinger which caught keeper Nicolas Schmid out and came back off the crossbar and post.
At the other end, Ritchie clipped a free-kick onto the roof of the goal before Christian Saydee bulldozed his way into the box before his low piledriver was kept out by Zetterstrom.
Harness, against his former club, was lively and created the greatest moments of quality. He had a point-blank range header caught by Schmid before firing over after a one-two with Yates.
Plenty of late tackles, by both teams, could have seen a red card while Josh Murphy managed to clear the Milton Road End stand with a wayward effort.
If anything the second half was more bonkers as it added goals to the mix.
Forsyth had twice forced saves out of Schmid, and Murphy had blasted into the side-netting, before three goals came in five minutes.
Derby struck first as Forsyth pinged a perfect cross from the left for Yates to power in for his ninth goal of the season.
But seconds later Pompey were level as Murphy’s corner was diverted in by Atkinson.
Yates managed to head wide of an open goal but minutes later Derby reclaimed the lead when substitute Kayden Jackson drove down the left and smashed a low cross into the middle, which Atkinson could only slice into his own goal.
The points were eventually shared when Schmid’s long ball forward found the head of Atkinson in the first minute of added time.
