Portsmouth Championship survival assured as Watford victory gets Fratton party started

Bishop’s 11th goal of the campaign was the difference between the two sides, as John Mousinho’s men completed their survival mission at Fratton Park.

It was nervy at times as the Blues failed to make the most of openings, with the visitors reduced to 10 men in the second half after Kevin Keben was sent off for a professional foul.

Then came 10 minutes of stoppage time as the Fratton faithful upped the volume to carry their players over the line.

Thankfully Pompey got the job done, too, as Bishop, Jordan Williams and Josh Murphy were all lost to injury on an afternoon Conor Shaughnessy and Callum Lang returned to the fray.

It means the Blues will meet deadly rivals Southampton in the second tier next term - a fact the Fratton Faithful highlighted on another afternoon of celebration.

Pompey started the game at a good pace and had an early opening after four minutes, as Colby Bishop helped the ball on to Matt Ritchie whose drive and follow-up header was kept out by Egil Selvik.

The home side were putting a number of balls into the Watford cross, without quite having the desired quality.

It was Pompey asking the questions, but there was a let-off in the 17th minute as Tom Dele-Bashiru found himself in space but fired at Nicolas Schmid.

The opener arrived in the 25th minute as Egil Selvik palmed Josh Murphy’s cross on to Bishop’s head. The keeper kept out the initial effort, but the Magic Man reacted by nodding the loose ball in from a yard out.

After the early positivity, Watford increasingly came into the game with Schmid producing a superb full-length to push Imran Louza’s goalbound 30-yard drive on to the bar.

Ritchie’s cross found to find a blue shirt before the break with Adil Aouchiche breaking through the middle but then seeing his pass towards Murphy intercepted, a moment which summed up the Frenchman’s afternoon - as he was unsurprisingly withdrawn for Christian Saydee at the break.

Ritchie saw his drive from outside the box pushed around the post two minutes after the restart, before Jordan Williams saw his afternoon curtailed by injury - leaving the pitch after punching the ball in frustration.

The game then went through a crazy few minutes as Bishop should have scored from a close-range header from Potts’ cross, but Selvik pushed out his header.

That was after the injured Williams was replaced by Terry Devlin, as he punched the turf in frustration.

Rob Atkinson then produced a superb block to keep out Rocco Vata’s goalbound drive before Murphy charged three quarters of the pitch and saw his poked shot saved.

Watford were down to 10 men in the 57th minute as Kevin Keben walked for a professional foul on Murphy, with Selvik pushing out the resulting free-kick.

Bishop then mistimed his header from another presentable opening, as Pompey pushed for a killer second.

There was a concerning moment as Bishop pulled up holding the back of his leg, with the key striker eventually replaced by Kusini Yengi. Then Murphy went off injured with it now crucial Pompey got the job done given the injury losses.

There was a whopping 10 minutes of stoppage time added by referee Sam Allison at the end of the game, with tension palpable and the home crowd carrying their team through a nervy period.

But Mousinho’s heroes saw the game out on another memorable day at a jubilant Fratton Park.