Norwich City 3-5 Portsmouth: Colby Bishop hat-trick gives Pompey victory

Colby Bishop led the way with a hat-trick as Portsmouth took a giant step towards Championship safety with a spectacular 5-3 win at Norwich.

Matt Ritchie and Regan Poole were also on target in a victory that took Pompey six points clear of the relegation zone with just three games left to play.

The visitors took control by scoring three times either side of the interval to move 4-1 ahead after Josh Sargent had quickly cancelled out Bishop's early opener.

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Jack Stacey pulled one back for the mid-table Canaries but defender Poole made the game safe before Emi Marcondes headed home a late consolation.

Norwich made a bright start, forcing a corner inside 10 seconds and bringing a good save out of Nicolas Schmid in the first minute when Jose Cordoba fired in a low shot.

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Pompey soon settled and went in front after 15 minutes as Ritchie swung in a cross from the right and Bishop rose highest to direct a header into the far corner.

The hosts were back on level terms within six minutes after Jacob Wright's corner caused chaos in the Portsmouth area. Freddie Potts managed to hook the ball off the line but his clearance landed kindly at the feet of Sargent, who blasted home his 15th goal of the season.

Kellen Fisher wasted a glorious chance to put City in front, heading straight at Schmid after popping up unmarked at the back post - and the visitors then struck twice in seven minutes to move 3-1 ahead.

Ritchie side-footed home Josh Murphy's low cross to restore his side's lead after 39 minutes before Bishop doubled his tally from the penalty spot in injury-time after Marcelino Nunez had upended Isaac Hayden.

Bishop completed his hat-trick six minutes after the restart after more good work from Murphy. This time the former Norwich player put another good cross into the six-yard box after his initial effort had been blocked and an alert Bishop pounced on the loose ball and finished with aplomb.

Norwich pulled one back after 64 minutes, substitute Stacey racing clear down the right before thumping home his second goal in successive games.

But it did not take long for Pompey to restore their three-goal cushion. With 71 minutes on the clock a move down the right saw Adil Aouchiche cut the ball back for Poole to produce another emphatic finish to make it 5-2.

There was still time for one more goal, with Norwich substitute Marcondes glancing home a header from a corner in the final minute of normal time.

The managers

Norwich's Johannes Hoff Thorup:

"All of us are sorry for this performance. It pains me to say it but I thought Portsmouth showed more desire than we did today.

"You are always going to find it difficult if you defend like we did - every time they put a cross into the box it seemed to cause us problems.

"At times we are so easy to play against - too often there was no purpose in our passing, we were not hard enough when we needed to be hard."

Portsmouth's John Mousinho:

"Nothing is done until it's done.

"It was a massive three points for us today, no doubt about that, but we won't say we are safe until it is mathematically certain.

"On a number of occasions recently we have had good result and have not been able to follow it up so we have to make sure we a ready to go again against Watford on Monday."

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