Ten-man Portsmouth put Accrington to the sword with four-star display

Rampant 10-man Pompey kept up their flying form with a 4-0 battering of Accrington.
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Two goals from George Hirst and efforts from Sean Raggett and Ryan Tunnicliffe made it five wins out of six for the Blues in front of a crowd of 15,091 at Fratton Park.

That closed the gap on the top six to seven points, despite Marcus Harness’ reckless first-half dismissal.

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Hirst took his total to eight for the season, Raggett kept up his flying goal form with his fourth in six games with positive performances all over the pitch.

Sean Raggett celebrates his goal today.Sean Raggett celebrates his goal today.
Sean Raggett celebrates his goal today.

It was the visitors who started the brighter with Josh Woods and Seamus Conneely going close, before Pompey had a seventh-minute penalty appeal turned down as ex-Cowplain School pupil Matt Butcher went in on Ryan Tunnicliffe in the box.

The Blues made the breakthrough in the 16th minute as Mahlon Romeo picked out Hirst with his cross and the striker guided in his finish.

Pompey were down to 10 men five minutes later, and Harness could have few complaints as he went in late on Ross Sykes and was dismissed.

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It was Cowley’s men who doubled their advantage in the 28th minute, however, as Raggett rose above Sykes to powerfully head home Tunnicliffe’s corner.

Gavin Bazunu preserved the two-goal advantage before the break with a fine reaction stop to keep out Rosaire Longelo’s effort from the edge of the box.

Accrington should have been down to 10 men just after the restart as sub Harry Pell lunged in late on Louis Thompson, but somehow was given a yellow instead of a red.

But Pompey had their third in the 56th minute when that man Hirst grabbed his second, as he powerfully headed home another Tunnicliffe’s corner.

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Cowley’s men had a fourth in the 69th minute when O’Brien ran three quarters of the pitch, beat two men and cut the ball back for Tunnicliffe to apply the first-time finish.

And from there it was largely comfortable for the Blues as they saw out the win on an upbeat Fratton afternoon.