By Dan Georg BBC Sport England at Fratton Park
PORTSMOUTH beat second-from-bottom Leicester City to leave the Foxes in real danger of being relegated from the Championship.
Ibane Bowat scored the game’s only goal, bundling the ball into the net at the back post from an Adrian Segecic corner.
This result leaves Gary Rowett’s side five points behind West Brom, who occupy 21st, with games against Hull City, Millwall and Blackburn Rovers still to play.
And they could be further adrift later on Saturday, with the Baggies facing Preston North End at 15:00 BST.
The Foxes have failed to win any of their past six matches and have only won 11 league games all season.
Portsmouth are now seven points clear of the relegation zone with three games to play and can no longer be caught in the table by Leicester.
Leicester, Premier League champions 10 years ago, had shouts for a penalty waved away by referee Gavin Ward in the opening 10 minutes when Conor Shaughnessy brought Patson Daka down in the box but nothing was given.
The hosts were forced into making two early changes when winger Keshi Anderson and full-back Terry Devlin, who recently picked up Portsmouth’s player of the season award, were withdrawn because of injury.
The first shot on target came in the final moments of first-half stoppage time when Leicester forward Bobby De Cordova-Reid broke beyond Shaughnessy but his low effort was fired into the arms of Nicolas Schmid.
After the break Pompey had a great chance to score when Millenic Alli was played through by Colby Bishop but he only ended up taking the ball out of play while attempting to dribble around Asmir Begovic, much to the frustration of the home support.
But John Mousinho’s side were able to break the deadlock just after the hour when Segecic sent a high, curling corner to the back post where Bowat bundled the ball into the net.
Moments later there were unsavoury scenes when Hamza Choudhury exchanged words with a Portsmouth supporter in the stands after being substituted and had to be escorted to the bench by the officials and a Leicester staff member to the jeers of the home fans.
Daka had a chance for an equaliser saved at close range by Schmid and moments later Foxes defender Jannik Vestergaard saw a shot blocked by Regan Poole, who threw himself at the effort.
Poole came close to becoming the villain moments after that heroic block, underhitting a backpass to Schmid that saw Daka run through on goal, but the Pompey keeper produced a fine tackle to end the danger.
Eight days key to Portsmouth’s likely survival
While Portsmouth are not mathematically safe, their past three results in eight days have been crucial to their hopes of staying up.
After the draw with Oxford United on Easter Monday, the Blues have gone on to beat Middlesbrough, Ipswich and now Leicester to move seven points clear of danger with just three games to go.
Mousinho’s side were under serious pressure away at Boro a week ago before going on to snatch victory in added time.
They then capitalised in two home games, aggressive in their approach against Ipswich before finding a way to get over the line in Saturday’s scrappy affair with the Foxes, who were fighting for their lives.
At a crucial time in the season Pompey’s key players have stepped up, Marlon Pack in particular outstanding on the ball in both home wins this week.
The three clean sheets in those games will have particularly pleased Mousinho, whose side have leaked goals for much of the season but now seem to have found a real solidity at an important time.
Leicester battle but lack quality
Despite the result, it was a gritty performance, at least in the first half, by the majority of the Leicester players in a game that lacked quality and started with both sides looking quite nervous.
Towards the end, as desperation increased, there were moments that turned unsavoury, with Choudhury clashing with officials and the home fans, while some of the players were also involved in a verbal altercation with opposition players towards the end.
On the pitch, Leicester had some chances to score and on another day could have taken an early lead when Daka went down from Shaughnessy’s challenge that had the away fans calling for a spot-kick.
Daka also had a great chance in the second half when Poole underhit a backpass and if he could have knocked it past Schmid then they could have been leaving the south coast with a point.
Despite winning only two league games in 2026 and losing 18 times all season, the Foxes are likely to need to win their remaining three games to stand any chance of staying up.
CAPTIONS:
Top – Abdul Fatawu of Leicester City in action with Ibane Bowat of Portsmouth during the match between Portsmouth and Leicester City at Fratton Park. Photo – Leicestermercury.co,uk
Insert – Portsmouth are now seven points clear of the Championship’s bottom three. Photo – BBC
Front Page – Leicester could now be relegated at home to Hull City on Tuesday if results go against them. Photo – BBC
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