Conor Shaughnessy and Colby Bishop scored quick goals as Portsmouth derailed Ipswich’s automatic promotion bid with a 2-0 win at Fratton Park and boosted their hopes of remaining in the Sky Bet Championship.
Defender Shaughnessy headed in Adrian Segečić’s corner kick in the 42nd minute, putting Pompey on track to move four points clear of the relegation zone.
Just two minutes later, striker Bishop doubled their lead from close range with a loose ball into the bottom right corner, surprising the Tractor Boys and sparking wild celebrations among the home supporters.
Second-placed Ipswich suffered a surprising defeat for the first time in 10 games, but they maintain a two-point difference with third-placed Millwall with a game remaining.
Following the high of Saturday’s 2-0 derby win against Norwich, Ipswich faltered after a bright start and did little to test home goalkeeper Nicolas Schmidt.
The match was the third to be held after being postponed in January and February due to frozen and flooded pitches respectively.
Ipswich regained second place with victory at Carrow Road and traveled to the south coast in high spirits, while Pompey kept themselves out of the bottom three with a last-gasp 1-0 win away to promotion-chasing Middlesbrough.
Town striker George Hurst had an early corner kick chance blocked in behind, and during a strong start that lacked a clear chance, Portsmouth left-back Jordan Williams curled wide on the opposite flank.
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Portsmouth took the lead when Conor Shaughnessy raced a corner with George Hurst and headed home from close range.
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Portsmouth doubled their lead against Ipswich just before the break when Colby Bishop pounced on a rebound.
Pompey winger Milenic Alli almost scored the opener in spectacular style in the 27th minute when he tipped a long-range shot past Ipswich goalkeeper Christian Walton.
Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna has been linked with a Bournemouth manager following Tuesday’s news that Andoni Iraola will step down in the summer.
His in-form team went into halftime with a two-goal lead after three minutes of sacrifice.
Centre-back Shaughnessy made the breakthrough, evading Hurst’s attention and nodding in Segečić’s in-swinging shot from the right.
The home fans had just finished celebrating when Bishop fired into the bottom right corner after John Swift’s shot was twice blocked following Andre Dozzell’s cross from the left.
Chants of “We’re awake” echoed around the ground as Ipswich players gathered for an impromptu on-field team talk.
Portsmouth manager John Mousinho described the game as “a bit of a free blow” for his team.
Pompey could have gone further after Town manager McKenna brought on the attacking pair of Jayden Philodzine and Anis Mehmeti as part of a triple change, but Alli’s shot was followed by Segečić’s diving header which went wide of the left post.
It took Ipswich until the 67th minute to register a shot on target. Marcelino Nuñez’s shot was easily caught by Schmidt, but then Mehmeti sent it wide.
Schmidt made a good save from Philogene in stoppage time, but the visiting team could hardly be dissatisfied with the result, as the team’s aim of an immediate return to the Premier League was frustrated.
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John Mousinho of Portsmouth:
“At the moment I feel like this is the best performance I’ve had since I’ve been here and there have been some good performances as well.
“(This is) definitely the best performance of the season and I think all of that is justified given the circumstances and circumstances of the last few weeks and everything.
“The mentality after Saturday’s win was unlike anything we’ve had for most of the season.
“Whenever I won a game, I never chased it.
“We did it once[against Charlton and Millwall in February]but there were a lot of false dawns where we won one game, turned the corner and played brilliantly well, only to not be as good the next game.”
Kieran McKenna from Ipswich:
“It’s always going to be tough when you concede the first goal from a set piece in this stadium with the atmosphere like tonight and it was a real blow for us to do it just before half-time.
“I’m really disappointed with that goal and apart from the celebration, conceding probably a minute later was what ruined the game for us.
“That’s a really important few minutes in this game. Before that, we would have liked to have played a little bit better in terms of creating chances, but it’s always going to be a tough night.
“Even if we go into half-time 0-0, we probably had a pretty solid first half and we are in a position to advance.
“But if you leave the game as it is a few minutes before half-time, you make a really difficult game not just impossible, but much, much more challenging.
“We need to do great in the second half to turn things around and we didn’t do that.”
