Football: Portsmouth off the bottom

Despite Portsmouth's problems off the pitch, last night they gave their supporters something to cheer, a dramatic 3-2 defeat of Wolves lifting them off the bottom of the First Division.

Wolves defender Steve Sedgley was sent off in the 27th minute after he appeared to strike Mathias Svensson. By then, however, Wolves were already a goal down after John Durnin had converted a deflected centre from Paul Hall.

The Wolves captain, Keith Curle, had a well-struck penalty saved by Pompey's veteran goalkeeper Alan Knight, who dived to his left to push away the effort. Two minutes after the break, Durnin got his second, then, on 74 minutes, David Hillier made it 3-0.

Wolves, however, made a belated fightback and with 14 minutes remaining Chris Westwood tapped in a header from Mark Atkins. Three minutes from time, Steve Froggatt beat Knight with a powerful right-foot shot.

Two goals from Clive Mendonca earned Charlton a 2-1 victory and a first win over Sheffield United in 10 years. Charlton profited from a hotly disputed penalty for the second successive home game as United suffered their second defeat in four days.