Instead, friendly fire had prompted the Spurs boss to stagger down the White Hart Lane tunnel crying to the heavens in disbelief.
Or in Darren Bent's case, friendly mis-fire.
That remarkable miss from the Spurs substitute wounded Redknapp. It h
urt, deeply at that.
For the hosts, it deprived them of a precious win to end a sequence just as disappointing as Pompey's over the previous seven matches.
And that scenario in itself was enough to cheer any Blues follower, especially at the expense of an anguished Redknapp.
He may have given Pompey their greatest side for more than half a century, he may have brought the FA Cup back to Fratton Park for the first time in 69 years.
But that's history, those ties crudely severed after he walked out to take over at Spurs.
Yesterday was all about vengeance, retribution for deserting the club along with the likes of Jermain Defoe and Joe Jordan.
And while Pompey may not have necessarily done that in the form of a 1-1 draw, Bent certainly contributed to making it a day Redknapp will hardly treasure.
Quite how costly that free header from six yards out will ultimately become in the grand scale of things remains to be seen.
But last night it left the Spurs boss licking his wounds – and that's enough to satisfy the Fratton faithful.
Of course, it could almost have been a defeat for him to nurse rather than the frittering away of two points, such are the extremities the game lurched from during the final 31 minutes.
Nugent's mildly deflected half-volley had left the noisy 2,000 away followers and any like-minded television audience dreaming of a White Hart Lane victory.
How sweet that would have been over the manager who defected in October, swiftly followed by his first-team coach and then, in the past 10 days, the star striker.
The moment, in particular, would not have been lost on Nugent, the striker written off by Redknapp during his south-coast stay.
Despite recruiting him, Tony Adams' predecessor was never convinced of the one-time England man's talents.
Ipswich and Stoke were even given the green light to pursue their loan interest while the then-manager often resisted the urge to blood Nugent into his side.
But there the Scouser was drilling home a shot to finally get his Premier League account off the mark at the 18th time of asking.
Like fellow Redknapp outcasts Sean Davis and, to an extent, Richard Hughes, he has revelled under the change of management and the confidence has flooded back.
A likeable character with boyish enthusiasm for the game, not even a dreadful one-on-one miss towards the end of the first half was allowed to dent his new-found belief.
It was also a wasteful effort made even more alarming considering it came against a goalkeeper whose thigh injury restricted his moment to such an extent he couldn't take his own goal kicks.
Still, it was a match riddled with talking points and marked with potential powder-keg rivalries.
The vagaries of the fixture computer had thrown up Defoe for an almost instant match-up with his former club and a team he left with great dishonour.
The Blues followers noisily made their feelings known even before kick-off, greeting the very mention of his name over the PA system with a stirring chorus of boos.
Similarly, the feeling was mutual among Spurs fans towards Sol Campbell, scrapping any offensive song material to focus on roundly booing his every touch.
Scanning the Spurs bench would reveal the presence of Jordan – the man who infamously shook Adams' hand on staying at Fratton Park – and Kevin Bond.
Not to be outdone, ex-Spurs men Peter Crouch, Davis and Younes Kaboul lined up for Pompey, while another old boy Noe Pamarot occupied the bench.
Led, of course, by Adams, the long-term captain and highly-successful defender from much-hated rivals Arsenal.
As for the team at his disposal, every single one of them had been brought to the south coast by Redknapp himself.
Youth products Marc Wilson and Asmir Begovic excepted, he had also recruited those on the Blues' bench.
Meanwhile, the affectionate embraces between Redknapp and Jordan with Paul Groves and Dave Coles displayed genuine warmth between the backroom staff which had proven to be so successful last term.
The scene was set and the match which unfolded proved to be an entertaining affair, even if the much-hoped revenge didn't quite materialise for the visitors.
It was Defoe who should have drawn first blood, set up by Davis' sloppy cross-field pass he could only fire wastefully wide when well-placed.
At the other end, Heurelho Gomes failed to keep hold of a stinging Glen Johnson drive yet just managed to flick away the ball as Crouch homed in.
James then brilliantly pushed away Defoe's header from the impressive Aaron Lennon's right-wing centre, while moments later Vedran Corluka slid across to block Armand Traore's effort.
It was Davis' foul on Roman Pavlyuchenko which brought Bent into the fray on the half-hour mark, a substitution which would ultimately prove decisive.
The second half remained open and then came the breakthrough on 59 minutes, Traore bursting down the left before teeing the ball up for Nugent to blast home.
The away fans chanted 'Redknapp what's the score?' and 'You're getting sacked in the morning' but barely 11 minutes later the scoreline was level.
Luka Modric did the damage, weaving the ball through for Defoe to crash home in typically impressive finishing fashion.
Spurs took the initiative and Davis had to head one effort off the line as the hosts pushed for the winner.
Then on 80 minutes, substitute David Bentley found himself in acres of space and sent over a perfect cross in Bent's direction.
It's a moment which no doubt gave Redknapp and Co nightmares last night. For Pompey and their followers, they definitely slept with a smile on their faces.
