Redknapp denies blip as Palace grab a point

Portsmouth 1 Crystal Palace 1

Boos reverberated around the Fratton Park bog as the League leaders Portsmouth spluttered to their fourth successive draw. In what was a largely dire and scrappy affair, Crystal Palace deservedly halted a run of three consecutive away defeats.

Harry Redknapp, the Pompey manager, dismissed talk of a blip despite watching his side's winless run stretch to four games. "We have not had a hiccup, we are not going to win every week," he said. "We have had a couple of hard games and we're not Arsenal, we're Pompey, for goodness sake."

Pompey took the lead in the first half through Paul Merson during a spell of concerted pressure. The former England man had been a doubt before the game because of an ankle injury but there was little sign of that as he dashed 80 yards to turn home a low Matthew Taylor cross at the far post.

It had taken Pompey a quarter of an hour to shake off the after-effects of Christmas dinner. But for the next 15 minutes they displayed the swagger of League leaders, spraying the ball around with crisp, confident passes.

Svetoslav Todorov headed against the bar from a Merson corner after 18 minutes and then had a shot blocked from another Merson cross as Palace failed to clear their lines. Merson again and Deon Burton should have done better with neat interplay when both had the chance to play in the other around the Palace area a minute before they took the lead. Burton should have also played in Todorov a minute after the goal, but again his passing let him down.

Then, on the half-hour and completely against the run of play, Palace equalised. They stretched Pompey from left to right with slick passing to provide Danny Butterfield with a crossing opportunity.

Dele Adebola caused mayhem in the six-yard box and his flick found the unmarked Julian Gray at the far post. The speedy youngster did not need a second invitation to sidefoot the ball across the goalkeeper, Shaka Hislop, and into the far corner of the goal.

That sucker-punch seemed to take the wind out of Pompey's sails. Palace finished the half in the ascendancy as Finland's Aki Riihilahti wrestled the midfield impetus away from the game's chief orchestrator up to that point, Merson.

While both sides had passed the ball well on a tricky pitch that cut up badly in the first half, they both failed miserably to master it in the second. The final 45 minutes turned into a comedy of errors as the game degenerated badly. At times it seemed like not a single player on either side was capable of finding a team-mate with a pass.

Merson faded badly in the second half, while Palace brought on Ade Akinbiyi and the Nigerian striker almost won the match for the Eagles with a late shot on the run that Hislop did well to tip around the post. But neither side deserved victory on an afternoon to forget.

Portsmouth (3-4-1-2): Hislop; Primus, Foxe, De Zeeuw; Crowe (Harper, 81), Taylor, Diabaté (O'Neill, 57), Quashie; Merson; Todorov, Burton (Péricard, 58). Substitutes not used: Kawaguchi (gk), Burchill.

Crystal Palace (3-5-2): Kolinko; Symons, Powell, Popovic; Butterfield, Gray, Mullins, Derry, Riihilahti; Adebola, Black (Akinbiyi, 62). Substitutes not used: Michopoulos (gk), Williams, Routledge, Borrowdale.

Referee: L Cable (Surrey).