Niko Kranjcar fired home a superb 61st minute winner as Portsmouth overcame West Ham 1-0 at Upton Park.
Kranjcar strike proves the hammer blow
Niko Kranjcar fired home a superb 61st minute winner as Portsmouth defeated West Ham 1-0 at Upton Park.
In a drab affair in East London, Kranjcar proved the difference as he picked up Sulley Muntari's pass to turn and fire emphatically past Robert Green from 25-yards.
West Ham failed to penetrate the solid visitors defence but should have taken the lead early in the first half when Bobby Zamora missed an open goal after rounding David James.
Zamora's chance was to be the Hammers only threatening moment in 90 minutes with Portsmouth threatening at more frequent intervals as David Nugent and Pedro Mendes both came close in the first half.
The omens for that did not look too bright at the start, though, and the first half will not live long in the memory.
Early toil
Portsmouth, starting without Kanu, Jermain Defoe and Milan Baros, showed little in attack until the closing minutes of the first 45 as Nugent toiled against Anton Ferdinand and Jonathan Spector.
The visitors were also short in midfield, with artful French playmaker Lassana Diarra out resting a sore hamstring, and their lack of craft allowed west Ham to constantly feed Dean Ashton and the returning Zamora.
Luis Boa Morte, appearing in place of bright new youngster Freddie Sears, lost Sylvain Distin on the edge of the area early on and fired West Ham's first shot on target into the grateful arms of James.
Dive bravely
Zamora wasted a great opening in the ninth minute when he ran clear down the left but failed to find a team-mate with his low pull-back, giving Hermann Hreidarsson the chance to clear.
James then had to race out of goal and head the ball away from Ashton just outside the penalty area and then dive bravely at Zamora's feet a few seconds later.
Pompey's defending looked fairly desperate in the opening 20 minutes and it needed another last-ditch tackle by Distin to stop Ashton when the blond forward moved in for Zamora's unselfish ball across the face of the area.
In a rare Pompey raid their fans at the far end of the ground thought Nugent had scored his first Premier League goal with a right-foot snap-shot in the 24th minute but he was just off target.
James then twice had to punch clear at the other end as Hammers piled on pressure.
Kranjcar and Papa Bouba Diop briefly replied with shots and Hammers goalkeeper Green struggled to hold onto a Mendes blast from distance.
Frustration
Just before the break James had to turn Ashton's fierce 30-yarder around a post and then was beaten by a double deflection off Nolberto Solano's free-kick but the ball dropped just wide for a corner.
A strange lethargy seemed to overtake West ham early in the second half after a couple of through balls failed to find their marks.
Pompey sensed the frustration creeping in and Kranjcar almost put them ahead after 54 minutes when Nugent's square pass set him up for a strike from 20 yards which sizzled just over the bar.
But the Croat's shoot-on-sight policy paid off just after the hour with a classic strike, by which time West Ham had brought on Sears for the tiring Zamora.
Sears scored a fine winner against Blackburn last month but this time it was Kranjcar who hit the spectacular with a stunning low effort from just outside the area.
West Ham also took off Hayden Mullins - to a cruel roar of approval from the fans - and brought on a third striker in Carlton Cole for the last 18 minutes.
Pompey replaced Nugent with FA Cup semi-final hero Kanu late on and there never looked the remotest danger of the Hammers hitting back.