Millwall 0-5 Portsmouth

Millwall 0-5 Portsmouth

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Ayegbini was the star of the Portsmouth show

Portsmouth took another huge stride towards promotion with a comfortable win over Millwall at the New Den.

The victory was capped by a fine performance from Yacubu Ayegbini.

The Nigerian, who is on loan until the end of the season from Maccabi Haifa, grabbed a brace to take his his goals tally to five in six appearances.

The hard work was done in the first half when Pompey put four goals past their beleaguered opponents, who have now lost their last five games.

Ayegbini opened the scoring after 14 minutes following good work on the right by Kevin Harper.

Ayegbini collected the ball on the left of the penalty area and slotted it past Tony Warner.

Ten minutes later Bulgarian Svetoslav Todorov beat two defenders and squared the ball for Ayegbini to net his second.

On the half-hour mark it was 3-0 as Kevin Harper crossed and Tim Sherwood headed in.

Millwall's woes were clearly getting to Dennis Wise and he was involved in a flashpoint soon after the third goal which led to bookings for the former England midfielder and Nigel Quashie.

In stoppage time, Todorov deservedly netted his 16th goal of the season when given the freedom of the pitch by the Millwall defence.

Portsmouth sat back after the break with the job effectively done, while Mark McGhee's side came out trying to gain some respectability.

At least the home fans got to see Richard Sadlier in action again after he went on as substitute for Steve Claridge in the 55th minute - his first game since the opening day of the season.

But their cheers soon turned to silence as Paul Merson converted a penalty after Ayegbini had been fouled by Paul Robinson to round off another terrific performance by the Division One leaders.

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Millwall: Warner, Reid, Ryan, Ward, Robinson, Ifill, Wise, Livermore, Kinet, Harris, Claridge. Subs: Gueret, Sadlier, Dunne, Hearn, Rees.

Portsmouth: Hislop, Primus, De Zeeuw, Festa, Harper, Sherwood, Merson, Quashie, Taylor, Todorov, Ayegbini. Subs: Kawaguchi, Crowe, Diabate, O'Neil, Pericard.

Referee: H Webb (S Yorkshire).