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Match Report
Portsmouth v Man Utd 30 October 2004
Pompey deflate United
Portsmouth 2 - 0 Man Utd
Portsmouth crushed Manchester United's mini-revival with a 2-0 success at Fratton Park.
David Unsworth broke the deadlock on 53 minutes from the penalty spot, after Rio Ferdinand pulled back Ricardo Fuller, and Yakubu Aiyegbeni's deflected effort sealed the points for Pompey.
United could easily have pocketed a couple of goals inside the opening ten minutes such was their early dominance.
Cristiano Ronaldo fired wide after just 60 seconds and, a minute later, Shaka Hislop required two attempts to grasp the Portuguese youngster's drive.
Hislop was again called into action with a sprawling save on four minutes to deny Paul Scholes from the edge of the area and Pompey defended stoutly to prevent Ronaldo or Wayne Rooney gobbling up the rebound.
Ronaldo then wastefully smashed a shot wide after Rooney and Ryan Giggs combined to create another chance for the visitors.
Alan Smith, chosen to replace the suspended Ruud van Nistelrooy, was off target along with Scholes, while Aiyegbeni shot straight into the stomach of Roy Carroll.
Pompey suffered a blow when Diomansy Kamara was forced off just past the half-hour before they came the closest to scoring on 37 minutes.
Phil Neville produced a piece of sloppy defending to leave Carroll stranded, substitute Fuller laid the ball back to Tresor Lomano Lua Lua but the African's shot was hacked off the line by Gary Neville.
Rooney was then cautioned, slightly harshly, for tangling with Nigel Quashie with both players appearing as culpable as each other in the incident.
In the final minute of the first half, a dipping Amdy Faye volley forced Carroll to push the ball over his crossbar.
Harry Redknapp brought on Valery Mezague for Patrik Berger at the break but the first chance of the second half fell to United as Scholes struck a shot straight at Hislop after being teed up by Ronaldo.
But the hosts snatched the lead on 53 minutes after Ferdinand needlessly tugged Fuller just inside the box and Unsworth rammed the penalty straight down the centre of the goal.
Within three minutes, The Red Devils should have been level after Phil Neville's cross was headed off the inside of the post by Ronaldo and Smith contrived to put the rebound over from inside the six-yard box.
Gabriel Heinze should have done better than head Giggs' free kick over the bar before Pompey put further daylight between themselves and their opponents on 72 minutes.
Aiyegbeni powered towards the box, skipped past Ferdinand before hitting a left-foot shot beyond Carroll, with a minor deflection off Mikael Silvestre deceiving the United keeper.
United pressed in search of a lifeline but their attack lacked any bite and Pompey, defending stoutly for the most part, kept cool to register another important victory.
Report From  , For full report and stats, click here.
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