Harry Redknapp reverted back to the midfield diamond formation to tackle Roy Keane's side who played Kenwyne Jones up front on his own as Sunderland played for a draw from the start.
The first half was awful as neither team could string more than three passes together. Pompey were ignoring the wide options when Hriedarsson and Johnson were available in plenty of space whilst the Black Cats resorted to hoofing the ball forward for Jones to chase but he got little change from Distin and Campbell.
Barring Sulley Muntari's free kick and Hreidarsson's header that went wide there were no real chances in the first half and the most memorable thing about the first half was an inept refereeing performance by Phil Dowd as he failed to spot any fouls on our players, booked Glen Johnson for protesting a decision that clearly should have gone our way and then was petulant enough to call Joe Jordan from the technical area to have a word with him.
The second half followed a similar pattern as the Portsmouth players continued to lack understanding and misplace passes. Sunderland continued to hit-and-hope and Dowd continued to blow up for niggly "fouls".
In my mind there were two moments that swung the game in our favour. The first was obviously the penalty decision but prior to that, Harry Redknapp substituted the ineffective Baros for Kanu whose clever play and ability to hold the ball up gave us a new dimension as we pushed on for a goal.
The penalty came after Phil Bardsley fouled Kranjcar in the box. When I saw it at Fratton Park it looked like a definite penalty and despite the claims of some pundits claiming that Niko dived it looked clear to me that there was contact and so the spot kick was rightly given. (A rare decision that Dowd got right having missed Bardsley's blatant hand ball in the box.)
Now with Benjani, Kanu and Kranjcar missing penalties for us already, it looks like we have a competant penalty taker in Jermain Defoe. Fratton Park needn't have held its breath as the England striker emphatically buried the spot kick.
That goal meant that Sunderland had to come out and try and find an equaliser which opened the game up and allowed Defoe and co. to have more attempts at Craig Gordon's goal and to be honest I think we should have finished them off.
It didn't matter as we managed to see the game out comfortably in the end and record only our fourth home win of the season after yet another frustrating evening at Fratton Park. The win takes us to 44 points and sets us up nicely for a huge game at Everton next week.
It's a good thing we didn't blow it either, as every result went against us this weekend with Villa, Blackburn, Liverpool and West Ham all winning.
What's worse is that Tottenham won the Carling Cup meaning that barring a Man United vs Chelsea FA Cup Final, we must finish 5th in the league to qualify for the UEFA Cup next season. Unless we win the FA Cup, reach the final against Chelsea or if Tottenham win the UEFA Cup or if Everton finish 5th and win the UEFA Cup. (This is to my knowledge, UEFA never make these rules clear...)
A season defining month is coming up so let's hope that Pompey make the most of it.
Pompey Player Ratings
David James: 6 - Nothing to do.
Glen Johnson: 6 - Was good going forward at times but his lack of concentration meant he gave the ball away in too many dangerous areas.
Sol Campbell: 7 - Strong in the air and wasn't outmuscled by Jones.
Sylvain Distin: 7 - Won the race against Jones every time.
Hermann Hreidarsson: 7 - Solid at the back and supported the attack well (when the other players noticed him).
Lassana Diarra: 6 - Fairly average passing but won the ball at crucial times.
Sulley Muntari: 7 - A gritty, battling performance.
Papa Bouba Diop: 6 - Strong but gave the ball away too often again.
Niko Kranjcar: 7 - Bamboozled the Sunderland defence with his quick feet.
Milan Baros: 5 - Ineffective and never saw the ball.
Jermain Defoe: 7 - Virtually anonymous until the penalty and then he could have had a couple more.
Substitutes
Jamie Ashdown
Lauren
John Utaka
Sean Davis
Kanu: 7 - Changed the game with his hold up play and clever passing.