Pompey conceded a 95th minute equaliser at Brunton Park to draw 2-2 with Carlisle for the second consecutive season.
There were controversial moments in the match as the hosts were awarded a penalty after Christian Burgess' foul on Danny Grainger which led to a penalty award, although the contact looked to have been made just outside the box. Regardless, it was a needless sliding challenge from the Pompey defender who should've known better.
Grainger slammed the spot kick down the centre to give the Cumbrians the lead just before the break despite Pompey's dominance in possession but the second half should have seen Paul Cook's men awarded a penalty of their own when Luke Joyce clearly took out Ben Davies inside the box but referee Scott Duncan awarded a free kick just outside the box instead.
Pompey did turn the game on its head when Coalan Lavery turned in substitute Ben Tollitt's cross and then near enough straight from the restart another substitute in Marc McNulty pounced on some poor defending before lashing the ball past Mark Gillespie.
Given the visitors' dominance of the game, it looked like a first win in five would be sealed to keep pace with those teams at the top but come the final minute of the match, Grainger fired in an unstoppable thunderbolt from at least twenty-five yards.
If you wanted to be over-critical then you could say that Grainger should have been closed down but nobody would have expected him to do that.
Pompey can certainly count themselves unlucky not to have won this game and on another day would have won it quite comfortably, and those are the words of Carlisle fans who were actually at the game rather than my own.
Keith Curle himself also praised Pompey for their style of play but whilst this flattery is good, points on the board are far more important and the hard truth is that Paul Cook's men have only taken four points from the last fifteen available and have fallen to 5th in the league.
However, there's still no reason to panic whatsoever. Portsmouth are a team still in good condition despite the stutter and once everything clicks then there is no doubt in my mind that this team (with one or two additions in Januray) will get promoted.
A win at home to struggling York on Tuesday would certainly be welcome, though.