A brace from Jermaine Defoe and a missed Ryan Taylor penalty meant no points on the south coast.

Pompey took the lead just after the half hour mark when John Utaka's shot was unluckily deflected by Taylor, and Mario Melchiot was unable to clear and the ball fell to Defoe who netted from an acute angle at the near post.

But Latics had a great chance to equalise on 62 minutes as Sylvain Distin was adjudged to have fouled Luis Antonio Valencia in the penalty box by referee Alan Wiley. But Taylor's spot kick was pushed away by David James, and the rebound fell to Taylor once again but he missed the target.

By the closing stages, boss Steve Bruce had put all of his attack minded substitutes Antonie Sibierski, Marlon King and Julius Aghahowa who joined Marcus Bent and Emile Heskey on the pitch in a bid to get a result but it also meant Defoe was able to break the offside trap in stoppage time to slot a second goal past Chris Kirkland.

With Jason Koumas and Wilson Palacios both suspended and Erik Edman injured, Bruce was forced to make changes and he gave a debut to Norwegian defender Erik Hagen and also a start to Josip Skoko.

Although Latics were defeated, they certainly had their fair share of chances, and one of the best arrived in the 15th minute when Heskey spotted the run made by Valencia and the Ecuadorian wingers' shot was blocked by Glen Johnson forcing the ball to hit the bar and bounce away to safety.

Then six minutes later Heskey trapped the ball before feeding it through to Ryan Taylor whose curling shot looked to have James worried, but it went inches past the wrong side of the post.

In the second half, Heskey had two more chances. In the 75th minute, after he latched onto Sibierski's through ball he found himself one-on-one with James, but the former Liverpool goalkeeper raced up to the edge of the area and bravely snatched the ball away from the strikers' feet.

With five minutes remaining Heskey cleverly headed the ball into the path of substitute Sibierski whose volley was excellently saved once again by James.

Kirkland was also kept busy in his own goal though and he had to prevent Hermann Hreidarsson's shot from going in during the opening exhanges, and the Latics goalkeeper also stopped Pompey doubling their advantage a minute after their first goal as he palmed away a Nico Krancjar shot which looked to heading for the corner.

There were also long range efforts from Paul Scharner but all to no avail. Thankfully Latics have a chance to get back to winning ways next weekend as Bruce's former employers Birmingham City visit the JJB Stadium.

LATICS: Kirkland; Taylor (Sibierski 66), Boyce, Melchiot (c) (Aghahowa 86), Hagen (King 73); Valencia, Skoko, Scharner, Kilbane; Bent, Heskey.

UNUSED SUBS: Pollitt, Figueroa.

BOOKED: Scharner, Skoko.

PORTSMOUTH: James; Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson (Lauren 61); Utaka (Hughes 69), Mendes, Davis, Krancjar, Baros (Nugent 66), Defoe.

UNUSED SUBS: Ashdown, Mvuemba.

BOOKED: Defoe

GOALS: Defoe 32, 90.

REFEREE: Alan Wiley

ATTENDANCE: 18,623