Orient crush Pompey

Dean Smith turned from villain into hero

Portsmouth 1-4 Leyton Orient

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Portsmouth boss Graham Rix is under severe pressure after his side were thrashed by Third Division Leyton Orient in a remarkable FA Cup showdown.

Orient came from behind to book their place in the fourth round and heap more misery on the hapless Rix.

The visitors smashed in four superbly-worked goals to cancel out Pompey's early opener as the Brisbane Road side pulled off what has to go down as one of the shocks of the round.

The First Division side seemed to be sailing to a comfortable win after Os captain Dean Smith had put the ball past his own keeper under pressure from leading scorer Peter Crouch with just 12 minutes played.

I'll keep working and giving 100%, but that's more than can be said for some of the players today

Portsmouth manager Graham Rix

But Smith, who was only deemed fit enough to play half an hour before the match, made amends for that indiscretion when he brought the sides level two minutes into the second half.

He left Pompey's Japanese goalkeeper, Yoshi Kawaguchi, stranded with a blistering 25-yard free-kick after Wayne Gray had been fouled by home captain Scott Hiley.

The visitors took the lead less than 20 minutes later when striker Steve Watts seized on a moment of madness from Kawaguchi before neatly slotting the ball into the back of the net.

Kawaguchi was made to pay for his moment of hesitancy when Watts knocked the ball out of his hands and into the net after the Japanese international had taken too long to collect a fairly routine looking clearance.

We were a bit in awe of Portsmouth in the first half but we know you get nothing for losing 1-0 in the FA Cup so we went for it

Orient boss Paul Brush

Two became three 13 minutes before time when Gray beat Hiley to the ball on the edge of the area before hammering a well-struck shot beyond Kawaguchi and into the net to put the tie beyond the beleaguered home side.

Just to add insult to injury for Rix's men, substitute Iyseden Christie then added a fourth for the visitors five minutes into stoppage time.

The former Coventry striker, making his first appearance for 16 months, was left with the simple task of smashing the ball home after midfielder Jeff Minton had beat the Pompey offside trap before sending his team-mate clear.

The defeat is set to spark still more speculation about Rix's future with director of football and former West Ham manager Harry Redknapp ready to take over the reins.

Portsmouth have now lost five of their last six matches and are without a win since an unconvincing win over Nottingham Forest at the end of November.

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Portsmouth: Kawaguchi, Tiler, Hiley (Crowe 81), Primus, Harper, Prosinecki, Quashie, Pitt, O'Neil (Derry 69), Crouch, Lovell.

Subs Not Used: Tardif, Vincent, Barrett.

Booked: Quashie.

Leyton Orient: Barrett, Smith, Dorrian (Barnard 45), Leigertwood, Jones, McGhee, Harris, Minton, Martin, Watts (Christie 88), Gray (Ibehre 90).

Subs Not Used: Canham, Morris.

Booked: Gray.

Attendance: 12,936

Referee: P Prosser (Innsworth).