Avram Grant doesn't consider himself a lucky man, and that was evident as his reign began with his side taking their biggest step yet towards the Championship against Manchester United.

Paul Hart's time as Blues boss was characterised with the kind of ill fortune which led to him having a free weekend to walk his English pointer dogs in Nottingham.

Unsurprisingly, nothing has changed in his absence, with the narrative which led to a 4-1 defeat against the champions following such a familiar pattern.

The story begins with promising high-tempo football, continues into a tale of countless wasted chances and hard luck and then the twist as defensive lapses are ruthlessly punished.

No one realistically expected a return from the weekend visit of Sir Alex's Ferguson's maestros.

But that blank leads to Pompey looking at a Premier League table which makes the most damning reading of the season, with the team entering its most difficult period of fixtures up to the new year.

Many supporters look at the seven-point gap to safety which has now opened up and greet it with the kind of nonchalant indifference of Great Escape veterans.

It got to eight back in 2006 before Harry Redknapp weaved his magic, but no one should be treating what took place back then as the yardstick for now. That was a wonderful one-off and is unlikely to be repeated this millennium, let alone this season.

Pompey are now on their fourth manager in just over a year since Redknapp departed.

Grant began his tenure where he left his last position, in defeat against United.

A Champions League final in Moscow is a very different place to a sodden November afternoon at Fratton Park, but the outcome was just the same.

The Israeli proffered John Terry's slip when he missed in the penalty shootout last year as compelling evidence he doesn't tend to enjoy the breaks when he was unveiled as Pompey boss on Friday.

He admitted after the game he had that familiar sinking feeling in the first-half on Saturday after his charges passed up chance after chance.

Aruna Dindane found himself at the centre of those missed opportunities as Pompey showed more worrying profligacy.

First, the Ivory Coast international got in behind the United defence after 12 minutes, but hesitancy at the vital moment allowed Tomasz Kuszczak to block when he did finally pull the trigger.

Dindane then scuffed wide from 25 yards before Jamie O'Hara worked Kuszczak with a speculative effort from distance.

Pompey's top-scorer was having an afternoon to forget as he then headed wide, with Fratton Park rocking.

The sense of foreboding borne out of missed chances was, of course, well-founded.

United possess the kind of armoury which will inevitably punish wastefulness, and so it was prove as Antonio Valencia galloped half the length of the pitch before Wayne Rooney went down under the attentions of Michael Brown after 25 minutes.

Initial impressions of a soft spot-kick made way for the realisation it was more reckless from Brown, and Rooney dusted himself down to set himself on the road to a hat-trick.

Pompey continued to threaten, though, and their reward belatedly came 12 minutes before the break when Nemanja Vidic's tug on Frederic Piquionne was spotted by an eagle-eyed referee's assistant.

Prince Boateng showed he is made of stern stuff, and tucked away the ensuing spot-kick with the kind of conviction everyone expected at the Britannia Stadium last weekend.

It should have been the home side who were in front not level at the interval though, and they were to be punished for their wastefulness in six killer minutes after the restart.

Younes Kaboul was culpable as the majestic Giggs combined with Rooney moments after serving warning with a similar move.

Kaboul got the offside trap all wrong and the Scouser was never going to pass up the gift.

Pompey's charity then exceeded itself when Frederic Piquionne decided an ineffective performance wasn't good enough, and suicidally dallied on a clearance and before ridiculously taking a hack at Giggs in the box.

Rooney gobbled up another present and the game as a contest effectively ended there.

Pompey continued to threaten in spurts, with Boateng at the heart of most of their positive work.

But it was Giggs who crowned a wonderful display a day before turning 36 with a piece of deadball expertise, which brought up his 100th Premier League goal three minutes from time.

Grant will take solace from the change in system which allowed Pompey to create the chances which had dried up of late.

He moved to a 4-3-3 cum 4-5-1 which offered width and plenty of balls into the box, although it was a case of square pegs and round holes with Boateng and Piquionne on the flanks.

The fact that only one of 18 chances were converted provided compelling evidence of where Grant should first look when the shutters come up on the January transfer window next month, though.

The scoreline again didn't tell the tale with Pompey rocking United, but then their place at the foot of the table doesn't tell the story of the season. These are the facts, though.

Yes, the Blues have been unlucky.

But there is a school of thought that bad finishing doesn't rest in the lap of the Gods, and it's hard to disagree. More worrying than that even is the fact people are now starting to consider the wisdom of large scale January investment.

The thinking there is the cause could be a futile by then and a wiser move will be to regroup for a promotion assault next season.

Grant won't be looking at things that way, but the ability to find a way of losing which was endemic in Hart's time as boss is now in serious danger of becoming terminal.