Striker Steve Claridge ended Portsmouth's 11th-hour goal drought to earn a point at bottom club Swindon.

Claridge struck ten minutes from time to give managerless Portsmouth a share of the points and deny Swindon the chance to move off the foot of the First Division table.

Swindon had been given a first-half lead through Chris Hay and squandered a series of opportunities to extend their advantage before Pompey levelled.

Claridge had come closest to opening the scoring on four minutes when he lifted a 20-yard effort high over the Swindon crossbar.

But then Swindon pressed forward and Gareth Hall was unlucky with a 35-yard free-kick which Pompey goalkeeper Aaron Flahavan did well to hold onto, diving to his right.

Swindon took the lead on 16 minutes when defender Adrian Whitbread misjudged a tackle and allowed Hay to clip a shot past Flahavan into the far corner.

Pompey struggled to create any clear openings before the break with Sammy Igoe seeing a 20-yard shot deflected away for a corner.

Just after half-time Swindon almost doubled their lead when Andy Williams crossed from the left but Scott Leitch was unable to divert his cheeky backheel on target.

Two minutes later Claridge missed a great chance to level the scores when he failed to head on target when left unmarked from a free-kick by Igoe.

Lee Bradbury then came close to levelling with a free header which Frank Talia did well to save, diving low to his right.

On 80 minutes Pompey finally got the equaliser when the ball dropped to the feet of Claridge in the penalty area and he chipped a left-foot shot past Talia into the far corner.

Substitute Martin Phillips almost snatched a second a minute later but he blazed high over the crossbar with just Talia to beat.

Williams then struck a volley wide of goal for Swindon before Phillips had a great chance to snatch all three points in injury time only to again shoot high over the bar.

Teams:

Swindon: Talia, Davies (Willis 44), Hall, Reeves, A. Williams, Collins (Cuervo 89), J. Williams, Leitch (Hulbert 66), Davis, Onuora, Hay.

Subs Not Used: Mildenhall, Griffin.

Booked: Willis, Davis, Collins, Cuervo.

Goals: Hay 16.

Portsmouth: Flahavan, Crowe, Whitbread, Cundy, Hiley, Claridge, Igoe, Awford, Vlachos (Phillips 51), Bradbury, Whittingham. Subs Not Used: Petterson, Miglioranzi, Waterman, Nightingale.

Booked: Vlachos.

Goals: Claridge 80.

Att: 10,279

Ref: M Warren (Walsall).