2006/7 PORTSMOUTH 2 NEWCASTLE UTD 1
Portsmouth James, Lauren, Primus, Campbell, Stefanovic,O'Neil, Davis, Hughes, Taylor, Mwaruwari (LuaLua 73),Kanu (Kranjcar 90).
Newcastle Harper, Solano, Taylor, Moore (Onyewu 30), Carr,Milner, Butt, Emre, N'Zogbia (Carroll 46), Duff (Luque 81),Martins.
Portsmouth maintained their drive for a UEFA Cup spot as Benjani Mwaruwari and Matt Taylor struck to sink Newcastle at Fratton Park.
Benjani opened the scoring in a lively Barclays Premiership encounter after just seven minutes before Taylor doubled the lead with a stunning long-range strike after the break.
Emre pulled one back from the penalty spot as Newcastle pressed hard in the second half, with Obafemi Martins hitting the bar, but Pompey held on.
Yet Pompey also hit the woodwork in the first half with Kanu thinking his shot had bounced down over the line.
Newcastle - having scored just once in six games - started well and could have been two up in the first three minutes.
David James had to push over a shot from Martins and the home defence went missing again from the resulting corner, only for unmarked Craig Moore to scuff his intended volley across goal.
Sean Davis wasted a free-kick for Pompey, over-hitting his cross from the left after Moore tripped Kanu on the edge of the area.
But the home side took the lead in the seventh minute thanks to the persistence of Benjani, who dug the ball out of his feet after Taylor's pass found him in the area.
He held off Moore and Steven Taylor before turning to rifle a low shot past Harper.
It was only his fifth goal this season, and his first since New Year's Day, but the home crowd roared their appreciation of their hard-working £4.4million record signing.
The setback seemed to spread panic through the Newcastle defence and in the 16th minute Kanu latched onto a Lauren cross and sent a fierce drive crashing against the underside of the bar.
Video replays seemed to suggest the ball actually crossed the line and Kanu had his arm in the air celebrating a goal but referee Chris Foy played on.
Gary O'Neil also shot just wide as Newcastle struggled to keep pace but the Magpies almost scrambled an equaliser in first-half injury time as Lauren cleared Martins' header off the line.
Newcastle then started the second half with intent and went close to equalising when Martins broke into the box and screwed a left-foot shot wide from Emre's through-ball.
James was then caught out as Martins thumped a header against the bar from a Milner cross but Pompey cleared and doubled their lead with Taylor's brilliant strike just before the hour.
James' long kick was headed back only as far as Taylor 30 yards out and he unleashed a fierce left-footed drive that bounced in the area and rocketed past Harper.
Newcastle were not deflated and got themselves back into the game when Emre struck from the penalty spot on 68 minutes.
Emre beat James to his left after Milner had brought the ball down in the area and been tripped by Dejan Stefanovic.
The successful penalty meant James would have to wait longer to set the Premiership record for most clean sheets but the former Liverpool goalkeeper was alert to deny Martins again 10 minutes from time.
Play quickly switched to the other end and Taylor was inches away from settling the game with a low shot across goal.
Newcastle finished on the attack but time ran out to leave Glenn Roeder's side frustrated again.
2005/6 PORTSMOUTH 0 NEWCASTLE UTD 0
Portsmouth Ashdown, Priske, O'Brien, Stefanovic, Griffin (Songo'o 76), O'Neil, Diao (Hughes 69), Vukic, Taylor, Vignal, Silva.
Newcastle Given, Carr, Taylor, Boumsong, Babayaro (Elliott 45), Bowyer, Parker, Clark (Faye 88), N'Zogbia, Shearer, Ameobi.
Once again it was Portsmouth's own lack of quality in front of goal which proved costly as their quest for a first home win of the season goes on.
Michael Owen's absence with a dead leg will be of some concern to Sven-Goran Eriksson ahead of the crucial World Cup qualifiers against Austria and Poland over the next 10 days.
However, Pompey manager Alain Perrin will be left wondering just how his side failed to see off an average Newcastle side this afternoon.
The hosts had the better of the possession and chances, with visiting goalkeeper Shay Given saving well from Dario Silva and Gary O'Neil in the first half - and also producing two fine stops late on to deny Matthew Taylor.
There had not been a goalless draw in this league fixture at Fratton Park in 19 meetings since 1950 - but this stalemate left more questions than it answered.
Pompey - deploying three banks of three, with one attacker - had started brightly enough.
They were awarded an early free-kick in a central position, 25 yards out, but Silva smashed his effort high and wide.
Magpies manager Graeme Souness had opted for a 4-4-2 formation, and his team looked to find in-form winger Charles N'Zogbia as often as possible in support of the frontmen.
Pompey, however, should have taken the lead in the 16th minute.
O'Neil was released into the right side of the penalty by a fine chip from Zvonimir Vukic, and his low centre found Silva in the six-yard box - only for Given to produce a brilliant reaction save with his legs from the striker's flick at point-blank range.
The visitors then soaked up a fair amount of pressure, though Taylor had to make a brave block to stop Silva's snap-shot from the edge of the area.
Jean-Alain Boumsong then made a timely saving tackle as Vukic shaped to shoot from just inside the box, with the impressive Croatian then firing the ball just over from similar range a few moments later.
As the half-hour mark approached, Portsmouth were becoming dominant.
Given made another decent save when standing up at the far post to deny O'Neil, who again had got in on the right.
In a rare moment of action in the Pompey half, N'Zogbia skipped clear down the left channel and to the goal line.
His low centre across the six-yard box was spilled by Jamie Ashdown, but fortunately for the Pompey goalkeeper, no Newcastle player was up in support to stab the loose ball home.
With three minutes of the first half left, the Frenchman almost found Ameobi in space eight yards out. But this time Ashdown's handling was first class as he clung onto the ball when going to ground.
Newcastle made a change at the break, with Robbie Elliott replacing Celestine Babayaro, but it was Pompey who started brightly.
From one chance, Silva got in at the far post but could not direct his header on target.
With an hour almost played, the tempo of the match dropped somewhat, as Pompey sat back and aimed to utilise the counter-attack themselves.
Gregory Vignal's chip through the centre of the Newcastle defence was just too far ahead of Vukic, who was still full of running from midfield.
As the game entered the final 20 minutes, Newcastle midfielder Lee Bowyer was somewhat fortunate to escape any punishment for what looked a rash, two-footed challenge on Gregory Vignal - directly in front of the dugouts.
Shearer crashed a 20-yard free-kick straight into the wall, and with nine minutes left, Given twice denied Matthew Taylor with fine saves in quick succession.
The first came from point-blank range and then Given turned the midfielder's header around the post from the resulting corner.
To sum up Pompey's afternoon, Vukic was cautioned for diving after knocking the ball past Given in the area, with the home fans screaming for a late penalty.
In the end, though, they again left Fratton Park in frustration.
2004/5 PORTSMOUTH 1 NEWCASTLE UTD 1
Portsmouth Ashdown, Primus, Stefanovic, De Zeeuw, Taylor, Stone (O'Neil 86), Skopelitis, Cisse, Berger (Hughes 81), Yakubu (Fuller 85), LuaLua.
Newcastle Given, Carr, Andrew O'Brien, Boumsong, Hughes, Bowyer, Butt (Kluivert 87), Faye (Jenas 68), Robert (Milner 76), Dyer, Shearer.
It took a Geordie to end the Toon's winning run of eight matches as Steve Stone proved deadly from three yards against the hometown club he never played for.
It was the same story in December when a deflected shot brought Stone's only other goal to date this season so you cannot blame the Magpies for hating the sight of the man who has twice denied them a Barclays Premiership win this season.
This time he netted a tap-in his granny could have converted in first-half stoppage time after Lomana LuaLua, who did manage a few appearances for Newcastle, twisted and turned past Steve Carr before trying a cross-shot which beat Shay Given but just would not have made the goal but for Stone's added toe-poke.
Pompey - and Stone - deserved it. They had gone behind only four minutes earlier to a strange goal after making most of the running.
It was reward for Kieron Dyer's persistence when he nudged the ball home after a Carr free-kick.
What was a surprise to everybody was that referee Matt Messias ended up with nine bookings at the finish of a game that was no more than rudely competitive.
The teams swapped attacking punches pretty much like their players exchanged pushes in a bad-tempered first half when ineffective referee Messias issued five yellow cards - four to Portsmouth - but missed several other more deserving culprits.
And with little between the sides in the opening 43 minutes the first goal looked as if it would be vital importance and Dyer was beginning to make a nuisance of himself to the Pompey defence.
He was unlucky in the 35th minute when he turned past Dejan Stefanovic on a clear run to goal only to be judged by referee Matthias to have nudged off the Serbian defender.
But after a huge Pompey escape in the 38th minute when Laurent Robert, notable up to then only for falling over from Linvoy Primus' honest challenges, rose at the far post to head Carr's cross against the bar.
Tempers frayed again in a set-to between several players after a trip by Yakubu and the Nigerian striker and Carr both ended up cautioned before Newcastle took a lucky lead on 43 minutes.
Pompey cleared a Carr free-kick but when Lee Bowyer's cross came over from the right Primus - who with Arjan de Zeeuw policed Alan Shearer - appeared to lose his bearings and headed the ball back towards his own goal where Dyer nipped in and headed it over the line.
Pompey heads hung but not for long. Stone - who earned a point with a rare goal at St James' Park earlier this season - was the finisher for their first half stoppage-time leveller, tapping in from three yards after LuaLua's dazzling run and cross shot looked to be sending the ball wide.
Portsmouth are still at least two wins short of absolute Premiership security for another season and Newcastle could still end Shearer's last season with nothing despite their current form.
But both showed a grit, determination and splash of skills worthy of the top division.
Yakubu, against the club who wanted to buy him in the transfer window but baulked at £10million, showed more appetite than of late and might have had a couple of goals to add to this season's 14.
But the Magpies, despite some creative play and sound defence, rarely troubled young 'keeper Jamie Ashdown who came in when Pompey's reluctant boss Velimir Zajec decided to rest his new keeper Kostas Chalkias who has not been a universal hit with all the home fans.
Ashdown saved well from Bowyer and Robert but Yakubu looked up for the fight against the club who almost bought him and twice went close at the other end in a somewhat calmer second half.