The Blues suffered a 5th defeat in 8 across all competitions at Fratton Park following Hayden Matthews' second half own goal.
Despite Portsmouth having chances to at least secure a draw, Hayden Matthews’ unfortunate own goal was enough for Stoke to earn the 3 points in PO4.
The Potters now move up to 3rd in the Championship standings, whilst Pompey drop down to 19th and just four points above the drop zone.
Head coach John Mousinho made three changes to the XI that lost 2-1 to Coventry in midweek.
Jordan Williams replaced Zack Swanson at right back, Matthews came in for Josh Knight, and Mackenzie Kirk was in for the suspended John Swift for his first Blues start.
Kirk, who made a strong impression with a goal on Tuesday, caused issues for Mark Robins’ side early on, making several encouraging runs ahead of the City back-line.
Stoke also had their fair share of chances in the opening 45, with Manchester City loanee Divin Mumba running in behind Regan Poole, but Josef Bursik comfortably caught the shot at goal.
Dutch winger Million Manhoef also had an opportunity to give the Potters the lead, but the strike off the right flank from the former Vitesse man hit the side netting of Bursik’s goal.
HALF-TIME: Portsmouth 0-0 Stoke City
Early in the second half, Pompey almost took the lead in front of the Fratton End, when a goal-line scramble from Connor Chaplin’s cross was followed up with efforts from Kirk and Marlon Pack twice each, before the ball fell to Ogilvie on the edge of the area, whose effort went wide.
Yang Min-hyeok then whipped a ball deep into the back post off the back of Pack’s quick free-kick, but Colby Bishop's connection of the ball went wide as he was put off by City skipper Lewis Baker.
Josh Murphy came on for his first appearance since the South Coast derby, an hour gone, and went on to create several chances down the left flank, with Kirk almost scoring his second Blues goal, but Viktor Johansson managed to save the ball with his knee.
And then, despite Pompey being largely on top for the second half, the visitors managed to score the only goal in quite unfortunate circumstances for the Blues.
Sorba Thomas’ supposed cross into the area was met by the leap of Hayden Matthews, whose deflected header leaped over the top of Busrik’s glove to make it 1-0 to Stoke, 70 minutes gone.
Up until that point, the Australian international was playing an extremely positive game; however, the main cause of the goal may have been the cramp the former Sydney defender was forced off with after the Blues restart, with Josh Knight coming on for the remaining 20 minutes.
Stoke did go looking for a second and came close when sub Tomas Rigo fired an attempt at goal from distance, but the Slovakian midfielder’s shot went wide.
FULL-TIME: Portsmouth 0-1 Stoke City
Next up: It’s back on the road for John Mousinho’s side, who will head to the Midlands next Saturday to visit Birmingham City at St. Andrews.
The last time the two sides met was August 2019, when Pompey cruised to a 3-0 victory in the first round of the Carabao Cup, with a 16-year-old Jude Bellingham making his professional debut for the visitors that night.
But the last time the two sides met in league action was March 2012, when City defeated a struggling Pompey 1-0 over 13 years ago.
Can Pompey get back to winning ways? The Blues are now without a win in the past three matches, with one point and back-to-back defeats at Fratton Park.
Portsmouth: 26. Bursik (GK), 2. Williams (24. Devlin), 5. Poole, 14. Matthews (4. Knight), 3. Ogilvie, 7. Pack (C), 21. Dozzell (18. Kosznovszky), 47. Min-hyeok (23. Murphy, 36. Chaplin 25. Kirk, 9. Bishop (Formation: 4-2-3-1)
Unused subs: 30. Killip (GK), 11. Bianchini, 16. Le Roux, 17. Bowat, 22. Swanson
Bookings: Kirk 35’, Pack 41’
Head coach: John Mousinho
Stoke: 1. Johansson, 40. Talovierov, 26. Phillips, 16. Wilmot, 3. Cresswell, 4. Pearson ( 15. N’Zonzi), 8. Baker (12. Seko), 10. Jun-Ho Bae (19. Rigo), 7. Thomas, 42. Manhoef, 9. Mumba (Formation: 4-2-3-1)
Unused subs: 13. Bonham (GK), 11. Boženík, 14. Donley, 17. Bocat, 23. Gibson, 29. Cisse, 50. Agina
Goals: Matthews (Own goal) 70’
Bookings: Thomas 48’, Mumba 61’, Talovierov 87’
Manager: Mark Robins
Referee: Thomas Kirk
Venue: Fratton Park
Attendance: 20,164 (including 1,907 away fans)
To hear analysis from the game, listen back to the Pompey Live: Extra-Time podcast from this afternoon's broadcast with Jake Smith, Henry Deacon and James Wilson.
Jake Smith will be joined alongside Alex Fletcher and Pepe Lacey on the next episode of The Football Hour this Monday (October 27th) evening from 7pm on Express FM with even more reaction to the Blues' latest Championship defeat at Fratton Park.
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