The ten men of Portsmouth were narrowly beaten by the ten men of West Ham United yesterday but it might have been different if it wasn't for Liam Lawrence's stupidty and a contentious penalty decision.
Dave Kitson was hill and so Benjani was handed the task of playing up front on his own for Pompey, sporting their new look of black and red halves. The Zimbabwean did well to hold the ball up and bring others into play as Steve Cotterill's men were always a threat going forward.
It didn't take long for the opening goal as Lawrence's quick low corner was received by Varney who hammered the ball straight at Carlton Cole who deflected it past Robert Green after just eight minutes.
The goal was credited to the Pompey man but replays showed the ball was flying wide until it hit Cole, so the dubious goals panel will surely see that as an own goal.
Unfortunately that lead lasted less than a minute as Pearce gave away a needless free kick by shoving Cole on the edge of the box. The next event was entirely predictable as Matt Taylor curled a deflected free kick past Ashdown and into the corner of the net for the equaliser.
Lawrence was then soon shown his first booking of the match for a clumsy challenge as the hosts look to have taken control of the game having had more possession.
However, the visitors may well have taken the lead late in the half when Pearce climbed on the back of a Hammers player and headed the ball goalwards only for Green to keep it out. Benjani attempted to follow up but the ex-England number one eventually grasped the ball into his arms.
There was an even better chance afterwards as Erik Huseklepp was played in by Norris but the Norwegian's low drive was kept out by the feet of Green as Pompey went into the break in the ascendancy.
The second half didn't begin well for Pompey as some poor defending allowed Henri Lansbury to get on the end of a loose ball in the box and take a shot which took a deflection between Pearce's legs and rolled under Ashdown who had already dived the other way.
That didn't deter Pompey, however, as they still came forward with purpose and the impressive Varney curled a shot narrowly over the bar before Huseklepp's cross was headed in by Norris to level the scores.
Again, having seen the replay, I'm not sure if the whole ball crossed the line there but it wouldn't have mattered as Benjani made sure that the ball hit the back of the net with his own header.
It looked like if any team were going to win the game then it would be the men in red and black but the turning point came after Lawrence decided it would be a good idea to lunge for a ball he was never going to get and all he did was catch Bentley, receive a second yellow card and had his team reduced to ten men.
West Ham seized the initiative but were gifted the third goal after the assistant referee listened to the screams of "'aaaaaandball!" from the home fans and therefore adjudged that Pearce had committed the offence when in fact there was nothing he could do to stop the ball hitting his arm.
Mark Noble made no mistake in sending Ashdown the wrong way from the spot and Sam Allardyce's men made sure of the victory when Taylor swung in a cross that the unmarked Cole scored from by looping a header over Ashdown.
That seemed to be the end of any meaningful action but come stoppage time there were two more incidents of note.
Firstly, Freddie Piquionne, who had only been on the pitch for five minutes or so, decided to shove Halford in the face and get sent off against his former club.
Then, in the last minute of the game, Ben-Haim decided to take on the West Ham defence by himself and ran into the box before being tripped by Noble.
The Israeli was furious and wanted to take the penalty against his former club but the duty was given to Halford. He rifled the ball past Green with the last kick of the game in a niggly but entertaining match that Pompey might have got a result from had they kept eleven men on the pitch.
Otherwise, this was an encouraging performance from Steve Cotterill's men with Varney, Benjani and Norris in particular standing out. Pompey proved they can pass the ball and made particularly good use of the wide areas of the pitch when going forward.
When the ball was pumped long (which wasn't as often as previous games), Benjani managed to keep hold of it and bring others into play. This was certainly our best performance of the season and better than most of the previous campaign too.
The only downside of the day was the fact that we conceded four goals, even if a few of them were unfortunate, and there is still a discipline issue at the club that the manager needs to address as there were too many bookings once again.
However, if Pompey can reproduce that performance at Hull next week then there is no reason why Pompey fans won't be celebrating a second win of the season.
Pompey Player Ratings
Jamie Ashdown: 6 - Had no chance with the goals, can count himself unlucky.
Aaron Mokoena: 5 - Did OK but was sloppy at times.
Greg Halford: 5 - Struggled at times.
Jason Pearce: 6 - Unfortunate to be involved with conceding of two goals.
Tal Ben-Haim: 6 - Showed that he is a good footballer despite the criticism he gets from some.
Liam Lawrence: 5 - Sharp at the start but faded and then stupidly got sent off.
Hayden Mullins: 6 - Steady as always.
David Norris: 7 - Always involved when Pompey went forward.
Erik Huseklepp: 7 - Threatening on the wing but maybe should have scored.
Luke Varney: 8 - Best performance of the season so far, always looked dangerous on the break.
Benjani: 7 - Brought others into the game with some good hold up play. Kitson will find it difficult to get his place back.
Substitutes
Stephen Henderson
Joel Ward (Huseklepp 79): N/A - Given little time to change things.
Ricardo Rocha
Kanu
Marko Futacs (Benjani 83): N/A - Looks an absolute beast and will win every long ball. Touch wasn't too bad either.