Paul Hart interestingly solved the right wing problem (with Pennant out injured) by pushing Glen Johnson forward and placing Younes Kaboul at right back. The rest of the team lined up the same as usual but you have to say that Pompey's caretaker manager got his tactics right today.
You wouldn't have said that after four minutes though after Leighton Baines curled in a free kick after Distin brought clumsily tripped Louis Saha. Fans say that James could have done better with the free kick but I think he may have seen it late and therefore had no chance of stopping it.
Kudos to the players for showing their character and their heads didn't drop despite the goal deficit and referee Peter Walton doing his best to endear himself to the crowd. And once he did his hand gesture to the Fratton End after giving Everton a "generous" free kick it looked like he'd lost all control of the game.
But it was Evertonians who were to be furious soon after as Glen Johnson's wayward shot was judged to have come off an Everton player for a corner when it clearly hadn't. From that corner Johnson nodded the ball across goal to Crouch who headed in the equaliser.
With the home crowd rejuvenated, Pompey pressed forward for a second and took control of the game but were almost undone when Campbell's poor clearance allowed Jo the space to shoot on goal but thankfully his effort was well wide.
Pompey began the second half brightly and I believe we should have had a penalty when Baines kicked the ball onto his hand but the ref decided to wave the claims away.
We continued to dominate as Crouch's looping header almost went in and boyhood Everton supporter David Nugent had his shot blocked by the feet of Tim Howard but it looked like we may have spurned the opportunity to win whilst we were on top.
The breakthrough came when Younes Kaboul (of all people) surged down the right and had his drive saved by Howard. From the resulting corner Crouch squeezed in a second header to send Fratton Park into wild celebration!
There might have been a third goal as Sean Davis struck the post with his long range shot but despite the nerves in the final minutes of the game given our tendency to concede late goals Everton didn't really pressure us and Pompey held on comfortably to claim a valuable win to take them out of the relegation zone.
It was a good team performance with everyone working extremely hard to battle for a much needed win. Again, I'll commend the character of the team after going behind so early in the game but there was always belief that we could win it and it's good to see that Crouch has found his scoring boots at just the right time.
We now have 32 points with 9 games to go and with home games against Bolton, West Brom and Sunderland to come along with trips to Hull, Blackburn and Newcastle on the horizon I can't see why we can't take the 8 or so points needed to claim survival.
There is work still to be done though but congratulations Pompey, you've earned a good rest before the game at Hull in two weeks time.
Pompey Player Ratings
David James: 6 - Some say he could have done better for the Everton goal, but had nothing much to do after that.
Younes Kaboul: 7 - Did really well considering he was playing out of position.
Sol Campbell: 7 - Made one error that should have been punished but generally solid.
Sylvain Distin: 7 - Assured at the back.
Hermann Hreidarsson: 7 - Solid as usual.
Glen Johnson: 7 - Impressive in an advanced role.
Hayden Mullins: 6 - Did his job.
Sean Davis: 7 - Battled hard.
David Nugent: 6 - Ran all game and might have scored.
Niko Kranjcar: 7 - Provided some much needed creativity.
Peter Crouch: 9 - The difference maker.
Substitutes
Asmir Begovic
Noe Pamarot
Nadir Belhadj
John Utaka
Richard Hughes
Angelos Basinas
Kanu (Nugent 76): 6 - Ozzed calmness on the ball.