Harry magic steers Portsmouth to vital victory

Portsmouth's Gary O'Neil, pictured in 2003.

Portsmouth moved closer to safety as Harry Redknapp won his second match in his latest spell as Pompey boss with a 1-0 victory against Fulham at Fratton Park.

It was a thoroughly deserved win for the hosts who have shown a marked improvement under Redknapp, winning as many times in his first five matches in charge as they had in the previous 15 games before he arrived last month.

Gary O'Neil bagged the winner two minutes before the break, slotting the ball home from six yards after a cross from Uruguay forward Dario Silva.

But the home fans had to suffer a few nervous jitters in the dying moments as Portsmouth failed to turn their obvious superiority into a wider winning margin.

Fulham, in truth, were woeful, mustering little in front of goal and have now been sucked back into the relegation quagmire.

The three points allowed Portsmouth to close to within two points of West Brom - who are one place above the relegation zone - and renew hope that Redknapp can turn around their season and steer them to safety.

The former West Ham, Southampton and Bournemouth boss, now in his second spell at Pompey, celebrated wildly as the final whistle sounded, the result vindicating his decision to rest several players for the trip to Highbury in midweek where Portsmouth were thrashed 4-0 by Arsenal - a game Redknapp had clearly decided to write off.

Fulham are now just three points above Portsmouth as their away-day blues struck once again. In 11 English Premiership matches away from home this season, Fulham have drawn three and lost eight times, scoring just 8 goals and conceding 18 times.

It was only Portsmouth's second home win of the season, the first being two weeks ago in Redknapp's first home match in charge of the team.

O'Neil had a fine match and could have scored a hat-trick while Lomana LuaLua's trickery caused constant problems for the Fulham defence.