Portsmouth 1 - 1 SPURS
..............Benjani...........Steeeeeed

Spurs:
Robinson, Chimbonda, YP Lee, Dawson, Davenport, Ghaly, Tainio, Huddlestone, Malbranque, Berbatov, Defoe.
Subs: Cerny, Gardner, Zokora, Murphy, Ziegler.

Portsmouth:
James, Primus, Johnson, Pamarot, Taylor, Campbell, Benjani, O'Neil, Kanu, Davis, Mendes.
Subs: Ashdown, O'Brien, Fernandes, Cole, Kranjcar.

Steed Malbranque headed home from close range to bag the point we richly deserved after our second half display in the 1-1 draw at Fratton Park on New Year's Day.

The French midfielder, heavily involved in that second half renaissance, rose unmarked eight yards out to nod home Danny Murphy's cross after 50 minutes.

David James had to be at his best to deny Jermain Defoe and Tom Huddlestone as we recovered from Benjani's opener just before the break to enjoy the better of the second half in the pouring rain on the south coast.

There were two changes to the starting XI from the Liverpool game, with both Dimitar Berbatov and Teemu Tainio restored to the side. Calum Davenport continued to deputise for Ledley King and Hossam Ghaly was assigned the right flank in the absence of Aaron Lennon.

For the home side there were four former Spurs on duty - Sol Campbell, Noe Pamarot, Pedro Mendes and Sean Davis - and Pamarot left his mark on the face of Ghaly in the opening minute with a flying boot in the face of the Egyptian, who suffered a loss of teeth and required stitches.

The first ten minutes were not of a frantic nature although Defoe had the chance to open the scoring when Ghaly did well to nod a long punt into his path and it took a speedy dash off his line by David James to stop the striker scoring at the venue where he netted on the first day of last season.

Ghaly came close on 16 minutes when Berbatov galloped down the left and cut the ball back to the midfielder who was knocked out of his stride by a desperate late lunge from Matthew Taylor.

The home crowd came to life after 29 when the lead was secured in fortunate circumstances. Benjani tried his luck from outside the area and his effort kicked up off the closing down Davenport and the ball sailed high past the despairing dive of Paul Robinson. It was not a deserved deficit.

There was a scare just before the break when Campbell struck the bar following a scramble in the six yard box, but the boys will have gone into the interval lamenting their luck over being a goal down in a game which they were bossing to a large extent.

Danny Murphy emerged from the dressing room after the break and took the place of Ghaly - Malbranque switching to the right - in the only half-time change. James made a superb stop to deny Davenport before, four minutes into the half, Murphy made an almost instant impact with a precise centre that left Malbranque with the relatively routine task of nodding into the net.

It was game on and both teams were set on snatching maximum points, although the exchanges became a little scrappy in the wind and rain that was swirling around Fratton Park. James spilt a Defoe effort just short of Berbatov before reacting with an excellent stop to his right hand post to deny a thumping drive from Huddlestone.

Malbranque was replaced by Anthony Gardner with 12 minutes remaining and the tall centre half was quickly in the action with a crucial block in front of Andy Cole before Linvoy Primus went close with a header across the face of goal.

Key Action - Official Site
9mins: SAVE. Ghaly hugh jump to flick ball into path of Defoe, race to get to it first with James, Defoe won it but James right on top of him and could only poke ball into body.
12mins: SUB - POMPEY. Kranjcar for injured Pamarot.
29mins: GOAL - POMPEY. Benjani 25 yards out, hit low shot that deflected off Davenport and skidded off wet surface over Robinson into top corner.
Pompey 1, Spurs 0
Half-time: Pompey 1, Spurs 0
Half-time: SUB - SPURS. Murphy for Ghaly.
48.20: SAVE. Free-kick half-cleared and knocked back into danger zone by Huddlestone, Berbatov missed it but Davenport in behind, good connection on volley but James saved diving to his left.
50mins: GOAL - SPURS. Murphy turned Johnson, left side of box, clipped lovely cross to far post where Malbranque nodded home.
Pompey 1, Spurs 1
70.30: SAVE. Huddlestone released Defoe down the left, cut inside Johnson before cracking effort from 20 yards that James saved to his left, spilled and Taylor there to hack away from Berbatov.
71.26: SAVE. Best yet from James to get down to Huddlestone left-foot volley from 16 yards, turned away low down to right post.
Full-time: Pompey 1, Spurs 1