Pompey ignore off-field chaos to continue fine run

Portsmouth ignored the off-field chaos that continues to swirl around the troubled Championship club to claim a crucial 2-1 win against Hull on Saturday.

Steve Cotterill’s side kicked off at the KC Stadium aware that the match could be the last in Portsmouth’s history after a statement from the club on Friday which admitted they were close to being liquidated.

A row between former owner Sacha Gaydamak and potential buyer Balram Chainrai threatened to finish off Portsmouth after 12 months of financial turmoil, but that danger may now have been averted according to reports emerging from the south-coast.

There was more good news on the pitch as David Nugent and Greg Halford put Portsmouth two goals ahead and Nicky Barmby’s strike for Hull wasn’t enough to derail the visitors, who have now taken 16 points from the last 18 available.

With leaders QPR held to a 1-1 draw at Bristol City on Friday and second placed Cardiff travelling to Leeds on Monday, Swansea took their chance to close the gap on the top two by beating Sven Goran Eriksson’s Leicester 2-0 at the Liberty Stadium.

On-loan Middlesbrough winger Marvin Emnes gave Swansea the lead with virtually his first touch on his debut in the 50th minute as he shrugged off the attentions of Curtis Davies to fire past Chris Weale.

Scott Sinclair made the points safe in stoppage time with his 10th goal of the season from an Emnes cross and Swansea are now only three points behind local rivals Cardiff.

Norwich are fourth after defeating managerless Middlesbrough 1-0 at Carrow Road.

Simeon Jackson pounced with a tap-in a minute before the break for his fourth goal of the season and the struggling visitors clearly need a quick replacement for Gordon Strachan, with fans chanting the name of former defender Tony Mowbray during the game.

Scunthorpe shocked fourth placed Watford with a 2-0 win at Vicarage Road.

Cliff Byrne and Martyn Woolford scored either side of half-time as rookie boss Ian Baraclough followed up his first win as manager at Preston in midweek with another victory.

Coventry moved into sixth place with a 3-0 home win over Barnsley.

Gary McSheffrey struck after nine minutes but the Sky Blues did not put the game to bed until five minutes from the end when substitutes Carl Baker and Jordan Clarke scored their first senior goals.

Elsewhere, Preston held off a Crystal Palace fightback to edge a 4-3 thriller and move out of the bottom three, while Reading demolished 10-man Burnley 4-0 at Turf Moor.

Nottingham Forest defeated Ipswich 2-0 and Millwall had little problem seeing off Derby as Steve Morison opened the scoring and made the other for Theo Robinson in a 2-0 victory at The Den.