Portsmouth 1-1 Chelsea

Anthony Clavane At Fratton Park, sundaymirror.co.uk 3/02/2008

Jermain Defoe (Pic:Getty Images)

Jermain Defoe knows there is only one way to prove the doubters wrong - score on your debut.

Portsmouth's new striker, exasperated at his lack of opportunities at White Hart Lane - and dropped from Fabio Capello's first England squad - made an instant impact at Fratton Park.

Three days after moving south, Defoe cancelled out Nicolas Anelka's opener and showed the Pompey fans - not to mention Capello and Spurs boss Juande Ramos - what he is capable of.

The details of the move may be still clouded in doubt but Harry Redknapp, who has been chasing Defoe for more than 18 months, was delighted he'd got his man.

He said: "I thought he took his goal really well. He needs to get a few more games under his belt, but if Capello wants another striker, maybe he could call him up."

Defoe's 64th-minute equaliser denied Chelsea the perfect 10 after Anelka scored his first Premier League goal for the visitors.

The former Bolton hitman opened the scoring following a superb counter-attacking move.

Claude Makelele knocked the ball out of defence to Shaun Wright-Phillips, who found Florent Malouda on the left flank. Joe Cole flicked Malouda's cross on to Anelka, who volleyed first-time past a startled David James.

But the little man popped up nine minutes later to level the scores and deny the Blues a club record of 10 successive wins in all competitions.

James's long clearance was headed on by Milan Baros and Defoe coolly slotted the ball past Petr Cech.

Defoe is a confidence player and the goal fired him up - in the last 20 minutes he came close three times to giving Pompey their first win against Chelsea for 48 years.

It could be argued he should have converted at least one of those chances, but at least he was getting into the positions.

A defeat would have been tough on Chelsea.

Michael Ballack almost gave them the lead with a header from a Juliano Belletti corner but Niko Kranjcar cleared off the line.

And James made several great saves to justify a possible recall to the England side.

His best came on the stroke of half-time when he rushed out to block an Anelka shot after Malouda put the striker through.

Ashley Cole, barracked by the crowd for his alleged infidelities, played a one-two with Makelele and nutmegged Glen Johnson - but saw Hermann Hreidarsson clear his shot off the line.

Blues boss Avram Grant said: "A draw is not enough for us - we go out to attack and win.

"We had chances, but it's not easy to come to Portsmouth. With so many of our players out, the team did really well.

"The title race is still open. There is a long way to go and anything can happen."

Pompey, who were inspired by midfielder Lassana Diarra, also had plenty of opportunities.

Defoe could have bagged a hat-trick and Noe Pamarot thought he scored late in the first half when he rose above the defence to meet Kranjcar's corner, but the ball clipped Cech's left-hand post.

Just after the restart Baros, another of Harry's new boys who worked his socks off, went close - and the home side had a good penalty shout when Belletti appeared to handle after Baros tried to flick the ball past him.

HOW THEY RATED

PORTSMOUTH
James 8, Johnson 8, DIARRA 9, Hreidarsson 7, Baros 7, Defoe 8, Pamarot 7, Kranjcar 7, Hughes 6, Campbell 7, Davis 6 (Mvuemba 6).
Manager Redknapp 7

CHELSEA
Cech 7, A Cole 7, Makelele 7, J Cole 7, Ballack 6, Malouda 6 (Pizarro 6), Ben Haim 6, Wright-Phillips 6, Alex 7, Belletti 7, Anelka 8.
Manager Grant 7

Referee H Webb 6

Man of the Match:
Lassana Diarra

This was a superb display by the former Arsenal midfielder, who has made a big impact after being signed by Harry Redknapp. The Frenchman looks like yet another of Harry's great buys.