Josh Murphy’s cool first-half strike gave Portsmouth a 1-0 victory over Blackburn to add weight to their survival chances and put a dent in Rovers’ play-off hopes.
Murphy’s superb one-two and finish lit up a low-quality affair which condemned Valerien Ismael’s Blackburn to a fourth straight defeat and extended his winless start as Rovers manager.
Ismael is now five matches without a win since replacing John Eustace – who failed to record a victory in any of his first 10 games – with Blackburn now five points adrift of the top six after dropping to 11th.
Portsmouth, meanwhile, ended a two-match losing run to pull out a seven-point buffer on the relegation zone.
Pompey have scored 19 points at home since the turn of the year, more than anyone else in the Championship, so it was no surprise when they opened the scoring.
A shot-less opening 20 minutes was broken by Murphy’s seventh goal of the season. Andre Dozzell picked up on a loose defensive header before playing the ball to the winger, who got into the box via a one-two with Colby Bishop before beautifully curling into the bottom corner.
Rovers attempted to bounce straight back and Ryan Hedges, a 13th-minute substitute, bounded into the penalty area but his fierce effort was saved by Nicolas Schmid at the near post.
Murphy then had Pompey’s second and last shot of the first half when he drilled a low effort from 25 yards, but Aynsley Pears easily gathered on the dive.
The hosts edged the midfield battle but it was Rovers who had the better chances on the approach to half-time.
Cauley Woodrow, on his first Blackburn start since arriving on loan from Luton, thought he had caught Schmid out from 45 yards but the goalkeeper recovered to catch the lob.
Woodrow then produced a stunning cross to the back post but ex-Portsmouth loanee Hayden Carter could not squeeze the ball in.
Yuki Ohashi barely made Schmid work with a tame header and Lewis Travis skied over the bar from the edge of the area as Rovers continued to lack quality after the break.
Carter also cleared the goal after a fine passing move, while Terry Devlin ended a 45-minute wait for a shot by having an effort deflected just wide.
Blackburn had plenty of the ball in the second half but loose passes cost them whenever they threatened, with their last shot coming in the 67th minute.
And Pompey could have grabbed a late second when a defensive mix-up gave Devlin a chance to capitalise, but the ball would not fall for him.
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