Lee Bradbury came closest to breaking the deadlock as the pair of First
Division strugglers played out a goalless draw in torrential conditions at
Fratton Park.
Former Manchester City man Bradbury hit the base of Paul Musselwhite's
right-hand post at the beginning and end of an otherwise dull first half.
In the very first minute he cut in from the left-wing before firing against
the upright. And he did the same 41 minutes later from a Michael Panopoulos
cross from the right.
The Australian substitute made a real difference for the managerless home side
who nevertheless remain without a win since October 30.
Vale were indebted to goalkeeper Musselwhite for their point after he made a
string of great saves, the best a breathtaking catch at the second attempt.
Musselwhite, who ironically was on Pompey's books as a youngster, also made
two fine saves to deny Michalis Vlachos.
Vlachos looked suspiciously offside when Musselwhite saved his point-blank
header on 56 minutes, and with quarter of an hour to go Musselwhite tipped
another goal-bound Vlachos header for a corner as Portsmouth continued to make
all the early second-half running.
Vale had started the second half strongly with Jeff Minton having a 25-yard
bullet tipped over the bar for a corner by Aaron Flahavan in the Portsmouth
goal.
The visitors continued to huff and puff and forced a string of corners midway
through the second half and in the awful weather conditions there was always the
chance of a costly defensive error.
Pompey, without the injured Darren Moore, were let off when Jeff Minton
flashed a shot wide with eight minutes left.
And Vale, using Matt Carragher at the heart of their makeshift defence, nearly
folded with five minutes left when Jason Cundy headed wide after latching onto a
free-kick from the impressive Sammy Igoe.
Teams:
Portsmouth: Flahavan, Robinson, Whitbread, Awford, Igoe,
Miglioranzi (Panopoulos 72), Claridge, Vlachos, Bradbury,Hiley, Cundy.
Subs Not Used: Petterson, Phillips, Nightingale, Whittingham.
Port Vale: Musselwhite, Tankard, Gardner, Minton, Widdrington,
Naylor, Eyre, Rougier, Carragher, Burns, Brisco.
Subs Not Used: Pilkington, Corden, Rimmer, Bogie, Donnelly.
Att: 11,869
Ref: K Lynch (Kirk Hammerton).
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