ACCRINGTON Stanley’s 84 travelling supporters may have been vastly outnumbered and much derided by over 14,000 in Portsmouth blue at Fratton Park, but they headed home safe in the knowledge that their team had the figure that mattered: three points.

The Reds prevailed 3-2 in a thrilling game that epitomised the spirit, character and ability that runs throughout an ever improving squad.

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Talk before the game had been of the FA Cup proving a distraction, but the visitors dispelled that myth with a storming start that saw them 2-0 up inside 15 minutes.

John O’Sullivan and Sean Maguire both went close early on before Rob Atkinson opened the scoring, reacting quickest to a Luke Joyce free kick that the home side failed to deal with and smashing in his fourth goal of the season.

Moments later, O’Sullivan doubled the lead with a goal of supreme individual quality. The Pompey defence partially cleared a Piero Mingoia cross straight to the Irishman, whose chest control set up a chance to shoot from the edge of the box, and was followed by a drilled low strike into the corner of the net to make it 2-0.

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Sadly Stanley’s attacking prowess is often matched by the propensity to concede and within 60 seconds Portsmouth had halved the deficit.

This time the visitors failed to adequately clear a corner and Marcus Bean curled beyond Jack Rose to make it 2-1.

Rose was then called upon to keep out Ryan Taylor’s acrobatic effort, but could do nothing to stop Craig Westcarr’s equaliser, slipping as the striker beat the offside trap and lobbed the ball beyond him to make it 2-2.

It was breathless stuff and the drama increased when the defence again failed to deal with O’Sullivan, who was brought down in the box by Matt Fish. Referee Keith Hill pointed to the spot prompting Portsmouth protests and a cacophony of boos. Joyce stepped up but saw his low penalty pushed out by Paul Jones.

Not to be outdone, Rose then took a starring role at the other end, denying Miles Storey before producing a tremendous double save to thwart Westcarr and Bean.

Portsmouth started the second half strongly and Stanley’s young loan goalkeeper proved to be their nemesis, his 50th minute save from Bean was truly top class.

After weathering an early storm, the Reds began to find their attacking rhythm again despite losing both O’Sullivan and Atkinson to injury.

Matt Crooks headed wide before Sean Maguire saw a half volley deflected over and sub Shay McCartan smashed a shot wide from Anthony Barry’s corner.

McCartan might have restored Stanley’s lead when he was picked out by the impressive Maguire on the edge of the box, but the Northern Irishman couldn’t find the target with his shot.

Ultimately it didn’t matter, as McCartan turned provider, breaking away 12 minutes from the end and finding Piero Mingoia on the left. The diminutive midfielder still had a lot to do as he cut into the area, but placed his shot perfectly and it skipped across the turf and beyond Jones to make it 3-2.

Now the priority was to preserve the lead and that’s exactly what Stanley held on for the win, restricting Portsmouth’s chances to securing their first win over Pompey in the club’s history.

Mr Hill’s full time whistle brought boos from the home fans, but as they died down it was the travelling 84 who had the last word.