FA Cup / Portsmouth 1-2 Liverpool: Liverpool won this contest with a degree of unease. As the end loomed, their goalkeeper Jose Reina had alarming difficulty in gathering the ball as Azar Karadas competed for a low cross from his fellow substitute Svetoslav Todorov.

Portsmouth had belatedly wielded an element of surprise.

There had been every reason for Liverpool, with a 2-0 lead by the interval, to assume they had attended to business. Portsmouth had been inept until then and a revival looked inconceivable. There continued to be a shortage of flair for the home side but the spirited scenes that ensued suggested they will mount a prolonged fight to remain in the Premiership.

Portsmouth were dangerously sincere about making a fight of this. Two of their players were booked in the opening 12 minutes alone and the first offence, Vincent Pericard landing his tackle on Jan Kromkamp's right ankle, might have induced a red card from a more draconian referee than Phil Dowd. Richard Hughes was then cautioned almost immediately.

It might have been disciplinary fatigue that spared Gregory Vignal moments later. The former Liverpool full-back smacked an elbow into the head of his former team-mate Steven Gerrard. That was certainly reckless and somehow there was not even a yellow card.

All the misplaced aggression had to be taken as the symptoms of men eager to prove their resolve after the 5-0 rout at Birmingham. This tie could otherwise have been treated as a convenient way of buying time for the real struggle in the Premiership. There were no points to be dropped, and the absence of Lomana LuaLua and Benjani Maruwari, busy at the African Nations Cup, was less significant.

Those who remained at Portsmouth were in earnest but that tended only to lead to demonstrations of the shrinkage in the quality of this squad over the past year. The £12 million that Harry Redknapp has so far spent in the transfer window has still to pay even a token dividend. A harmless shot from distance by Pedro Mendes amounted to only a bad imitation of attacking football.

Liverpool had scant gusto about them either but they pinned down Portsmouth with a superiority of passing before the interval, even if the attack kept a low profile.

Djibril Cisse, in some sort of show of tolerance from Rafael Benitez, held on to his place after a week in which he was cautioned by the police for an assault on his pregnant wife Jude. But the Frenchman's future at Anfield has never seemed secure and now there must be further reservations about him. He did not render himself indispensable in any sporting sense.

When Liverpool took the lead it came through a penalty born of utter confusion. Linvoy Primus missed Gerrard's corner and then Dejan Stefanovic did likewise, only for him to put out an arm and make contact with the bouncing ball.

Gerrard drilled the ball low past the right hand of Dean Kiely. The goalkeeper was making his debut after a £500,000 transfer from Charlton.

Misgivings about the move can only have risen at the second goal. Fernando Morientes chested down and John Arne-Riise broke from half-way, leaving Primus and Gary O'Neil behind before firing into the far corner.

It hardly seemed to matter that Morientes, soon after, failed narrowly to reach a Gerrard pass ahead of Kiely. Yet that lack of a third goal in the first half was to take on an unexpected significance. Portsmouth re-emerged better prepared to shoulder the duty of taking the game to Liverpool. There were, all the same, few reasons to think that Benitez's redoubtable back four would quake.

The opening for Portsmouth originated with Kromkamp as he conceded a free-kick on the right. It was curled in well by Gary O'Neil but Liverpool can only have been aghast at letting Sean Davis convert with a tidily flicked header. Portsmouth were no longer the drab outfit who had begun. Liverpool, too, were altered, with Mohamed Sissoko booked after a dive.

Those missing African forwards started to seem like a cause of regret for Redknapp, who had to replace Pericard with Karadas, suffering a dismal time on loan from Benfica. A Stefanovic free-kick went high as Portsmouth struggled to find the sharpness to complete a comeback.- Guardian Service