No honeymoon for Turner as Pompey thrive

Sheffield Wednesday 1 Portsmouth 3

Harry Redknapp believes Portsmouth will never have a better chance of promotion to the Premiership after his side maintained a seven-point gap over their nearest rivals Leicester with this comfortable win at Hillsborough on Saturday.

Two goals by Svetoslav Todorov and a third from Gary O'Neil ensured Pompey continued in their role as the First Division pace-setters and the victory left Redknapp in a confident mood. "We are never going to get a better chance," he said. "Forty-eight points from 20 games is an incredible total and is something I never expected us to get anywhere near at this stage."

His Wednesday counterpart Chris Turner, who played 208 times for the Owls in two spells at Hillsborough, had only Leon Knight's goal for comfort and knows the problems he faces. "No manager, not even Arsène Wenger, could walk into Sheffield Wednesday and turn things around in two weeks and start playing teams like Portsmouth off the park," he said.

"I've inherited a team that's not doing well and hasn't been doing well for three or four years, and so it's not going to change overnight."

Ahead of his first home game in charge, Turner was given a standing ovation, but by the final whistle those cheers had turned to boos – it is now just one win in the last 14 First Division matches for the relegation-haunted Owls. There has been no honeymoon period as his players have given him a one-point return from his first three matches at the helm.

The new manager pinpoints the "sad decline" at Hillsborough over the last few seasons, and in many respects feels he is in a similar position to when Steve Burtenshaw took over in 1974.

"Steve made a very good comment when he first took charge – he said it was like trying to stop a runaway train with a matchstick, and I can see know where he was coming from," Turner said.

Wednesday had a glimmer of hope at the end of the opening half as Knight had cancelled out Todorov's opener, while Portsmouth had also lost their influential captain Paul Merson to an ankle injury. But within 18 minutes of the restart Pompey had sewn the game up as Todorov took his season's tally into double figures and Merson's replacement, Gary O'Neil, added the third.

Redknapp believes Wednesday will not be relegated despite the fact they are one place and one point off the bottom. "The club is at quite a low ebb and even though I know they can go down, I don't think they will," he said.

Goals: Todorov (11) 0-1; Knight (27) 1-1; Todorov (50) 1-2; O'Neil (64) 1-3.

Sheffield Wednesday: Pressman, Crane, Haslam, Bromby, Geary, Armstrong, Quinn, Beswetherick (Hamshaw, 76), Sibon, Owusu (Donnelly, 76), Knight. Substitutes not used: Stringer (gk), Hendon, Morrison.

Portsmouth: Hislop, Diabate, Primus (Crowe 60), Foxe, De Zeeuw, Taylor, Harper, Robinson, Merson (O'Neil, 24), Todorov (Burchill, 80), Pericard. Substitutes not used: Kawaguchi (gk), Pitt.

Referee: P Danson (Leicestershire).

Bookings: Sheffield Wednesday: Beswetherick. Portsmouth: Diabate, De Zeeuw.

Man of the match: Todorov

Attendance: 16,602.