On-loan striker Paul Furlong capped an impressive debut by scoring an injury
time winner - his second goal of the game - in a seven-goal thriller.
Michael Brown was fouled in the penalty area in the dying seconds and Furlong
stepped up to slot home the penalty.
The first half had seen five goals and a host of other chances and Peter
Crouch started the scoring by putting Portsmouth ahead after just six minutes
with a well-placed header.
The lead only lasted 12 minutes as Nick Montgomery scored his second senior
goal when he pounced on Dave Beasant's handling error.
United took the lead in the 25th minute when Furlong powered home a header
from Bobby Ford's cross and it was 3-1 five minutes before half-time when a long
ball forward was headed back towards Portsmouth goalkeeper Dave Beasant by Jason
Crowe only for Carl Asaba to nip in to score his seventh goal of the season.
On the stroke of half-time, however, a Simon Tracey mis-kick let in Portsmouth
midfielder Robert Prosinecki and he was left with the simple task of rolling the
ball into an empty net.
That goal gave Portsmouth new incentive and they came out firing in the second
half and equalised just after the hour mark through Nigel Quashie, whose header
beat Tracey at his near post.
Portsmouth then missed two clear-cut chances through Crouch and substitute
Steve Lovell and Beasant also pulled off a tremendous save from Peter Ndlovu.
This was all before the penalty in the final minute when United old boy Shaun
Derry brought down Brown. And there was still time for Derry to be later
red-carded for a tackle on Peter Ndlovu.
Teams:
Sheff Utd: Tracey, Doane, Page, Curle,
Ullathorne (Sandford 65), Montgomery (Peschisolido 78), Brown,
Ford, Ndlovu, Asaba (Jagielka 84), Furlong.
Subs Not Used: D'Jaffo, de Vogt.
Booked: Ndlovu, Brown, Curle.
Goals: Montgomery 18, Furlong 25, Asaba 40, Furlong 90 pen.
Portsmouth: Beasant, Crowe, Primus, Buxton, Vincent, Harper,
Derry, Quashie, Pitt (Lovell 76), Prosinecki, Crouch.
Subs Not Used: Pettefer, Curtis, Hiley, Tardif.
Booked: Primus, Crowe, Crouch, Vincent, Quashie, Pitt, Derry,
Prosinecki.
Goals: Crouch 6, Prosinecki 45, Quashie 60.
Att: 17,553
Ref: M Clattenburg (Cramlington).
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