Wolves defender Steve Sedgley was sent off in the first half and their captain
Keith Curle had a penalty saved as Portsmouth moved off the foot of the first
division.
Sedgley was dismissed in the 27th minute after he appeared to strike
Portsmouth Swedish forward Mathias Svensson after a shot had gone in to the
crowd.
Angry Sedgley had to be led from the pitch by manager Mark McGhee as he
continued to protest the injustice of his red card.
By then Wolves were already a goal down when John Durnin converted a deflected
centre from Paul Hall.
Wolves missed a great chance to equalise in the 43rd minute when Robbie
Keane's long run from inside his own half ended with him being brought down by
David Hillier.
Curle struck his penalty firmly enough but veteran goal keeper Alan Knight
dived to his left to push away the effort.
Wolves were punished still further two minutes after the break when John
Durnin went past the back pedalling Chris Westwood to beat goalkeeper Mike
Stowell with a low right foot shot from the edge of the area.
Portsmouth were coasting to victory in the 74th minute when Stowell could not
hold Svensson's left foot shot and Hillier had the simple task of running the
ball over the line.
Only then did Wolves begin to show why they had emerged as a recent force in
the first division.
With 14 minutes remaining Westwood tapped in a goalbound header from Mark
Atkins to signal the start of a brave revival.
Three minutes from the end Wolves narrowed the gap when Steve Froggatt cut in
from the left to beat Knight with a powerful right-foot shot
This set the scene for a frantic last few minutes in which Wolves substitute
Darren Ferguson and Svensson were booked.
When the final whistle went players from both sides had to be separated with
Svensson at the centre of Wolves' fury.
Earlier in the match Curle had been booked for a foul on Svensson and
Portsmouth Republic of Ireland international midfield player Alan McLoughlin was
shown the yellow card for dissent.
Teams:
Portsmouth: Knight, Pethick, Thomson, McLoughlin, Whitbread,
Awford, Hall (Waterman 89), Turner (Igoe 72), Durnin, Svensson,
Hillier.
Subs Not Used: Simpson.
Booked: McLoughlin, Svensson.
Goals: Durnin 14, 47, Hillier 74.
Wolverhampton: Stowell, Kubicki (Ferguson 50), Froggatt, Sedgley,
Westwood, Curle, Goodman, Atkins, Keane (Paatelainen 68),
Freedman, Osborn (Simpson 80).
Sent Off: Sedgley (27).
Booked: Curle, Ferguson.
Goals: Westwood 76, Froggatt 87.
Att: 8,042
Ref: D Orr (Iver).
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