Portsmouth	1 - 2	Blackburn
Scorers Kanu 90  Booked Diop 45 Davis 87	Half Time ( 0 - 1 )	Scorers McCarthy 11 Pedersen 77  Booked Berner 14 Dunn 71

Harry Redknapp named a strong side for the visit of Blackburn, with Kanu being given a place on the bench as John Utaka was preferred up front with Benjani. Noe Pamarot replaced Sulley Muntari.

Aaron Mokoena replaced the injured Robbie Savage for Rovers, while Roque Santa Cruz and Benni McCarthy were again paired together up front. And it was the visitors who continued their impressive unbeaten streak as Pompey misfired in front of goal and Blackburn made the most of the ball.

Both teams have built up really impressive records in the league this season and Rovers’ only real disappointment has been their UEFA Cup defeat to Greek side Larissa. Their only defeat domestically this season was against Portsmouth, but Blackburn went into this game unbeaten in their last six matches.

The visitors made the more impressive start and Christopher Samba should’ve done better than head over when David Bentley found him unmarked in the box.

Shortly afterwards, they took an early lead when Mokoena fed McCarthy and the South African beat David James to put the visitors ahead.

But then Mokoena was taken off injured on a stretcher and Hughes had to contemplate another player on the sidelines.

Portsmouth made a double substitution at the start of the second-half as they looked to inject their game with some much-needed passion. David Nugent and Matt Taylor came on with Redknapp hoping to claim a first scalp of Blackburn in a knock-out match since 1988.

Nugent showed why he’s struggling to keep a regular place in the starting line-up headed Utaka’s cross wide as Pompey’s best chance of the game so far was wasted by their summer multi-million pound buy.

As the home side briefly threatened to pull themselves back in the game, Blackburn put the result beyond doubt. After David James was forced into a good save to deny Samba, Morten Gamst Pedersen blasted in a second for Rovers and left Nugent again rueing the chance he missed.

Pompey’s consolation came in the dying seconds when Kanu headed in. But it wasn’t enough to help them continue their unbeaten streak as Blackburn marched on to the quarter-finals.

So Portsmouth’s unbeaten seven-game run comes to an end against an equally impressive Blackburn Rovers. Harry Redknapp has brought his team on so far in the past few seasons and they will surely do well again this year. But they were outplayed by Hughes’ side and couldn’t find the all-important goal from a disappointing strikeforce.

Rovers march into the quarter-finals and will be a tough side to crack after their manager has built a team which has edged their way up the Premier League table and may be a dark horse to tackle the Big Four this season as they look to pick up their first piece of silverware under Mark Hughes.


Portsmouth: James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Pamarot (Nugent 46), Utaka, Dip (Taylor 46), Pedro Mendes, Davis, Kranjcar, Mwaruwari (Kanu 75).

Subs Not Used: Ashdown, Lauren.

Blackburn: Friedel, Mokoena (Emerton 28), Samba, Nelsen, Berner, Bentley (Derbyshire 37), Khizanishvili, Dunn, Pedersen, McCarthy (Treacy 90), Santa Cruz.

Subs Not Used: Brown, Ooijer.

Att: 11,788

Ref: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire).

By Ben Hughes