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Teams

• Norwich City
• Portsmouth

Players

• Damien Francis
• Marc Edworthy
• More PlayersYakubu Aiyegbeni

Ten-man Norwich climbed out of the bottom three with a battling 1-1 draw at Portsmouth.

The Canaries had to play for over 80 minutes with ten men after Marc Edworthy's red card.

Damien Francis gave Norwich an early lead, but Yakubu Aiyegbeni's twice retaken penalty secured a draw for Portsmouth.

Norwich had the first chance of the contest on four minutes when David Bentley's shot took a deflection off Linvoy Primus and Shaka Hislop was down well to save at his post.

The visitors suffered a major blow a minute later when referee Phil Dowd sent off Marc Edworthy for a professional foul on Diomansy Kamara as he raced clear on goal.

Norwich did not let their numerical disadvantage affect them and opened the scoring on ten minutes with the returning Francis picking up Arjan de Zeeuw's clearance on the edge of the box and producing a brilliant finish past Hislop.

The goal stung Pompey into action and Yakubu should have done better a minute later when he headed Matt Taylor's deep cross wide at the far post.

Portsmouth had two chances to draw level within the space of a minute with Kamara firstly firing a shot just wide and then Simon Charlton clearing Patrik Berger's shot off the line after Robert Green failed to get enough power on his punched clearance.

The lively Kamara then forced Green into a fine save with a fierce shot from the edge of the area which the keeper did well to push round the post.

Francis missed a glorious chance to double the lead on 23 minutes when Darren Huckerby fizzed over a cross to the back post for the unmarked Francis, but the midfielder could only head his effort away from goal.

Huckerby was unlucky to have a goal disallowed on 29 minutes when Dowd adjudged Leon McKenzie to have fouled Primus in the build-up to the goal.

Portsmouth continued to lay siege to the Norwich goal and had claims for a penalty waved away just before the break when Yakubu went down in the box rather easily under a challenge from Gary Doherty.

Bentley had the chance to double Norwich's lead on 55 minutes when he picked up a loose clearance from Andy Griffin on the edge of the area, but he dragged his shot wide of the target.

Portsmouth were handed the chance to equalise on the hour mark after they were awarded a dubious penalty when McKenzie was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area.

Yakubu converted from the spot at the third attempt after the Nigerian was ordered to retake his shot twice for encroachment from Portsmouth players inside the box.

Norwich were inches away from restoring their lead ten minutes later when substitute Jim Brennan's shot from the edge of the area took a wicked deflection off de Zeeuw before rebounding to safety off the post.

Portsmouth substitute Valery Mezague came close with his first touch after he came off the bench on 80 minutes with a fierce shot which Green saved.

Green came to Norwich's rescue again three minutes from time when he was quickly off his line to keep out Mezague after he had been played clear on goal.

The highly-rated custodian ensured Norwich came away with a point with fine save from Andy Griffin in the dying seconds as The Canaries climbed out the bottom three.

Portsmouth	Team Name	Norwich City
1	Goals	1
7	Shots on target ( Inc Goals )	4
8	Shots off Target (inc woodwork)	1
0	Blocked Shots	1
8	Corners Won	5
14	Total Fouls Conceded	7
1	Offsides	0
3	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	1
60 %	Possession	40 %

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Portsmouth v Norwich City