Avram Grant's injury worries have eased slightly but he was still without 12 senior players. Frederic Piquionne was left stranded in France due to not being able to fly back to England following the birth of his third son. Every other absentee bar Dindane was injured.
Yet Pompey started the game brightly and went agonisingly close when Boateng's shot was saved by Friedel and then Kanu's rebound was blocked.
It didn't take long to take the lead though after Vanden Borre did very well to cross for Michael Brown who curled in a superb opener to score his first goal in about six years.
However, with a patched-up back four of Sowah, Wilson, Mokoena and Vanden Borre starting you knew that there would be plenty of chances for Villa and they soon equalised.
John Carew, who missed an early sitter, beat the offside trap and shrugged off Wilson's challenge as if he wasn't there before smashing the ball past James. How many times have we seen failed offside traps being punished this season?
The game was as open ended as I expected it to be and both teams had strong penalty claims denied before Papa Bouba Diop needlessly tried to be clever on the edge of his own box and ended up tripping Agbonlahor. Papa, you're not Kaka, please don't try such stupid skills in future!
Thankfully, David James reprieved Diop's carelessness by saving Carew's spot kick and managed to boost his chances of starting for England in the next World Cup.
The second half belonged to Villa as they piled the pressure on to try and get the winner they needed and they got the breakthrough eight minutes from the end when sub Nathan Delfouneso was left unmarked to score his first goal in the Premier League.
Pompey were disappointing in the second half with all attacks being snuffed out quite comfortably by the Villa defence. It had looked like we had ran out of steam, but at least there were no major injury concerns to worry about.
I think Leonard Sowah did quite well on his full Premier League debut, making plenty of vital challenges on some of the best wide players in the Premier League.
As a unit though, the defence struggled but then what did you expect with a weakened back four? I don't expect that any of Vanden Borre, Wilson, Mokoena or Sowah will be playing in defence against Chelsea (injuries permitting of course).
Overall, I was proud of the effort shown by our players in what was effectively a meaningless game. Only three more to go before the big one!
Pompey Player Ratings
David James: 7 - Did his England chances no harm.
Anthony Vanden Borre: 6 - Better going forward than defending.
Marc Wilson: 6 - Lucky not to score an own goal. Far more comfortable in midfield.
Aaron Mokoena: 6 - No nonsense defending.
Leonard Sowah: 7 - Impressive full debut for the 17-year-old.
Papa Bouba Diop: 6 - Performance was OK but marred by a silly mistake.
Michael Brown: 8 - Scored a great goal and was absolutely everywhere.
Hassan Yebda: 6 - Average as usual.
Kevin-Prince Boateng: 7 - Creative spark but tried to do too much by himself at times.
Kanu: 6 - Couldn't influence the game.
John Utaka: 5 - Ineffective yet again.
Substitutes
Jamie Ashdown
Joel Ward (Boateng 80): N/A - Gave away foul that led to their goal, but showed promise in what little time he had.
Matt Ritchie (Diop 88): N/A - Hardly any time to grab an equaliser.
Marlon Pack
Nadir Ciftci