The Blues were comfortably brushed aside in the Midlands and suffered a third successive Championship defeat as punishment.
It was a ruthless performance in the second 45 from the Bluenoses that finished Pompey off, with 3 of City’s opening goals all coming from headers via set-piece positions.
In consequence, Pompey’s run of three games without a win going into the afternoon now stretches to 4 games, going as far back to that 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough before the October International break.
The Blues now drop down to 20th in the Championship, just 4 points above the drop zone, where Sheffield United occupy 22nd place, while Birmingham jump up to 11th in the second tier.
John Mousinho 3 three changes to the side that lost 1-0 at home to Stoke last weekend.
Ibane Bowat came in for his Blues debut for the absent Connor Ogilvie, John Swift was back in after a one-match ban for Colby Bishop, and Márk Kosznovszky started instead of Conor Chaplin.
The hosts started on the front foot early on, and had a chance to take the lead inside the opening 30 seconds, when Josef Bursik gave the ball straight to the feet of Marvin Ducksch, but Bursik and Regan Poole managed to recoup the ball calmly.
City then kept up their early momentum and were awarded a penalty when Patrick Roberts dazzled his way into the area, where he played in Ducksch, who was tripped by Andre Dozzell, forcing referee Andrew Kitchen to point to the penalty spot.
The former Werder Bremen forward stepped up to the spot; however, Bursik went the right way and got both gloves on the ball to keep the scoreline level at 0-0.
The ball did bounce back into play, to the feet of Sunderland loanee Patrick Roberts, who placed the ball across goal for Ducksch, but the ball went past the by-line and out of play for a goal-kick.
Birmingham eventually took the lead when Alex Cochrane’s left-footed corner was met by the head of South Korean international Paik Seung-Ho, who dived his head towards the ball at goal, which flew past Bursik, to make it 1-0 just under 10 minutes on the clock.
Tomoki Iwata came close to doubling Brum’s lead, but Regan Poole and Ibane Bowat were able to block the ball away inside the 18-yard box.
Portsmouth began to slightly grow themselves into the tie, with John Swift’s looping a ball to the back post being met by Márk Kosznovszky, but the Hungarian’s effort was blocked behind for a corner.
Swift then found himself in a good position against James Beadle, but opted to play the ball across to Kosznovszky, and at the same time, Swift was fouled late by Christoph Klarer, who was booked for the challenge.
The Portsmouth number 8 did step up to take the set-piece; however the midfielder's effort went firmly wide of Beadle’s goalmouth.
For at least 20-25 minutes of the second half, it was Portsmouth who kept the ball neatly, as they smashed the possession stats, but John Mousinho’s side were unable to carve out any clear-cut chances, despite large periods of the ball being on the Blues’ side.
HALF-TIME: Birmingham City 1-0 Portsmouth
There were no changes for Portsmouth at half-time; however, Birmingham made one change, with Keshi Anderson coming on for Patrick Roberts ahead of the second 45.
Anderson came on and almost made an instant impact as he cut across from the left flank with his right foot, but Poole was able to block the ball away as it approached Bursik’s goal.
Demari Gray had a golden opportunity to make it 2-0; however, the Jamaican international’s chop off the ball from Jay Stansfield’s cross went behind the goal.
53 minutes on the clock, and it was a triple sub made by Mousinho, with Josh Murphy coming on for Yang Min-hyeok, Colby Bishop for Makenzie Kirk, and Zack Swanson for Ibane Bowat.
Chris Davies’ side kept on the front foot early in the second half, and managed to make it 2-0 55 minutes gone, as Iwata was left unmarked on a corner at the near post, where the Japanese midfielder headed home a second.
City sub Kyōgo Furuhashi was left one-on-one with Bursik, but Jordan Williams was able to take one for the team, pulling Kyōgo back and being punished with a booking.
Birmingham then inevitably went on to make it three from a set piece yet again, with Cochrane again supplying the ball, which met an unmarked Christoph Klarer, who easily headed the ball past Bursik to make it 3-0 an hour gone.
Kyōgo Furuhashi then thought he had scored his first Championship goal; however, the striker's header that lopped over Bursik was flagged for offside.
Hayden Matthews began to cramp near the end of the game, with the Australian defender coming off for Josh Knight with ten minutes to go.
Davies’ side were not done and with three minutes to go made it 4-0, through Keshi Anderson, whose effort from outside the area hit the calf of Poole as it bounced into the back of the net to bruise the blow even more for Pompey late on.
FULL-TIME: Birmingham City 4-0 Portsmouth
Next up: It’s back to PO4 for one last time before the international break, as John Mousinho’s side welcome Wrexham to Fratton Park on Wednesday.
Phil Parkinson’s side managed to become the first side in league action to defeat Coventry City on Friday night, as Kieffer Moore’s hat-trick secured a 3-2 win at the STōK Cae Ras.
Can Pompey get back to winning ways on Bonfire Night? Or will this winless streak continue?
Birmingham: 25. Beadle (GK), 24.Iwata (26. Osayi-Samuel), 5. Neumann, 4. Klarer (C), 3. Cochrane, 7. Doyle, 8. Seung-Ho, 16. Roberts (14. Anderson) 10. Gray (30. Koumas), 28. Stansfield (17. Dykes), 33. Ducksch (9. Furuhashi) (Formation: 4-2-3-1)
Unused subs: 21. Allsop (GK), 12. Leonard, 27. Fujimoto, 41. Cashin
Goals: Seung-Ho 9’, Iwata 56’, Klarer 61’, Anderson 88’
Bookings: Klarer 23’
Manager: Chris Davies
Portsmouth: 26. Bursik (GK), 2. Williams, 5. Poole, 14. Matthews (4. Knight), 17. Bowat (22. Swanson), 7. Pack (C), 21. Dozzell, 8. Swift (36. Chaplin), 18. Kosznovszky, 47. Min-hyeok (23. Murphy), 25. Kirk (9. Bishop) (Formation: 3-4-2-1)
Unused subs: 30. Killip (GK), 11. Bianchini, 16. Le Roux, 24. Devlin
Bookings: Williams 60’
Head coach: John Mousinho
Referee: Andrew Kitchen
Venue: St. Andrews Stadium @ Knighthead Park
Attendance: 27,903 (including 2,003 Pompey fans)
Jake Smith, David Howes, James Wilson and Danny Thompson were in position at St Andrew's to provide analysis on the game for Express FM and you can replay that now through the Pompey Live: Extra-Time podcast!
Join Jake on the next episode of The Football Hour this Monday (November 3rd) evening from 6pm - He'll be joined by 2 more Pompey fans to further review today's action before looking ahead to Wednesday night's visit of Wrexham to Fratton Park.
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