Newcastle misfit Lomana LuaLua came back to haunt Sir Bobby Robson with a dramatic late equaliser as the Magpies' stuttering away form continued.
LuaLua was sent out on loan to Portsmouth upon his return from the African Cup of Nations.
The DR Congo striker was only given permission to play against his parent club in the week, after the Newcastle board accepted Pompey's suggestion that because they have paid £100,000 for his services he should start.
Robson has endured a turbulent week topped off by a long delay to their return journey from their midweek UEFA Cup draw with Norwegian outfit Valerenga.
The Toon chief's misery looked set to continue as Pompey dominated the first half an hour.
Yakubu Ayegbeni should have opened the scoring as early as the sixth minute when he headed over from an Eyal Berkovic corner.
Lee Bowyer then fired into the side netting before Linvoy Primus caused havoc in the Newcastle defence with an angled header across the face of goal from another corner.
LuaLua almost put Pompey in front when his close-range shot was saved by the legs of United goalkeeper Shay Given in the 20th minute.
The Congolese forward had a second angled shot saved by Given four minutes later before Bowyer again shot wide in a promising position.
But Newcastle found themselves in front 11 minutes before half time when Craig Bellamy scored for the fourth match in a row.
England winger Kieron Dyer left Pompey defender Arjan De Zeeuw in knots with some fancy footwork before crossing for Bellamy to fire home at the back post.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp threw on Croatian international Ivica Mornar for the final 18 minutes.
And Mornar played a key part in Pompey's equaliser, flicking on Matt Taylor's corner before LuaLua smashed home from the edge of the area.