Struggling Portsmouth produced one of the surprises of the day when they ended Ipswich's unbeaten run of 18 League games.

Portsmouth did their best work before the interval when they could easily have established a two or three goal lead.

In the second half Ipswich piled on the pressure but made little impact against a defence in which Darren Moore, Adrian Whitbread and sweeper Scott Hiley were outstanding.

Portsmouth goal keeper Russell Hoult, on loan from Derby, ,brought off a series of excellent saves, the best of which was a full length dive to deal with a header from Matt Holland in the 89th minute.

It was a shock for Ipswich to suffer their third home League defeat of the season and their first since the start of November. The Suffolk side had hoped to tighten their grip on one of the automatic promotion spots.

The Portsmouth winner came in the 26th minute when Steve Claridge headed home powerfully at the near post from a left wing cross by Sammy Igoe.

Portsmouth were sharp up front early on. In the fifth minute Richard Wright was forced to save from Thomas Thogersen.

Then after 16 minutes Thogersen pulled the ball back to leave the unmarked Lee Bradbury a clear shot from eight yards. He fired high over the bar.

The other Portsmouth chance before the interval came in the 34th minute when a cross from Whitbread was met by Bradbury's head. Richard Wright scrambled along his line to make an unconvincing save.

Portsmouth had Hiley as sweeper for the first time and he blocked a pile driver from Jamie Clapham just before the interval.

Ipswich switched to a 4-4-2 formation for the second half when they replaced Jamie Scowcroft, who had taken a knock, with Jermaine Wright.

In the 47th minute Moore was booked for a foul on Marcus Stewart just outside the penalty area. Igoe was then booked for encroachment which led to the kick being taken twice but Jim Magilton's efforts were unproductive.

Ipswich should have drawn level in the 57th minute. Tony Mowbray started a move that saw David Johnson produce a flick that left Stewart one on one with Hoult but the keeper dived to hold the Town striker's low shot.

Hoult held a left foot drive from Johnson near the foot of the post in the 69th minute and six minutes later Johnson had a clear header from a cross by Michael Clegg, who is on loan from Manchester United.

The Ipswich striker never made a clean contact with the ball and Hoult was able to bring off a simple save.

Teams:

Ipswich: R. Wright, Clegg, Wilnis, Mowbray, Brown, Clapham, Holland, Magilton, Scowcroft (J. Wright 46), Johnson, Stewart.

Subs Not Used: Naylor, Stockwell, Salmon, Thetis.

Booked: Clegg, Mowbray.

Portsmouth: Hoult, Crowe, Whitbread, Hiley, Moore, Waterman, Igoe, Birmingham (Fenton 87), Thogersen, Claridge, Bradbury.

Subs Not Used: Flahavan, Nightingale, Whittingham, Panopoulos.

Booked: Crowe, Moore, Igoe, Birmingham.

Goals: Claridge 26.

Att: 20,305

Ref: P Taylor (Cheshunt).