Colby Bishop inspires lowly Portsmouth’s much-needed win over Bristol City

Bishop, who returned from open heart surgery a month ago, opened the scoring in the first half, before slipping in Josh Murphy after the break.

Colby Bishop scored one and set up another as Portsmouth comfortably beat Bristol City 3-0 to rise off the bottom of the Championship. Bishop, who returned from open heart surgery a month ago, opened the scoring in the first half, before slipping in Josh Murphy after the break. Callum Lang put a cherry on top of the result with a close-range finish as Pompey secured their third win of the season and only a second victory in their last 13 attempts against the Robins. Pompey had not played a home game in almost a month due to the international break and a floodlight failure against Millwall. But it felt like they had not been away as Matt Ritchie tested Max O’Leary with a 25-yard free-kick in the second minute, before the winger looped a header over the crossbar. Their best early chance fell to centre-back Regan Poole, who after a defensive mix-up from a corner, poked goal-bound from inside the six-yard box, only for O’Leary to sensationally claw the ball off the line. Pompey’s 20th-minute lead was deserved, but came with a helping hand from O’Leary, Jason Knight and Zak Vyner. The defensive trio stumbled to allow Murphy to nip in and shuffle the ball to Bishop. The striker’s first shot was well saved but he made no mistake with the follow-up. The hosts could not maintain their attacking threat, albeit with Murphy seeing a cross deflected just wide and Bishop flicking a header off target, as City – who were shooting towards Storm Darragh – tried to mount a comeback as half-time approached. Max Bird curled wide with a warning shot, before the central midfielder slipped Anis Mehmedi through, with the Albania international testing Nicolas Schmid with a powerful low shot on the angle. Portsmouth should have doubled their lead five minutes into the second half as Lang pinched the ball off Rob Dickie and found himself clean through, but his shot straight at O’Leary lacked composure. They did extend their advantage in the 62nd minute as Lang was too strong for Knight in midfield before Bishop slid Murphy in behind to finish under O’Leary. Yu Hirakawa bent an effort just over the crossbar but the home side made the points safe in the 71st minute through Lang. Murphy fired a tantalising ball across the face of goal and – after no defender dared touch it on the stretch – Lang was waiting at the back post to tap in. Pompey had their hearts in their mouth when Sinclair Armstrong strode through in search of a consolation, but he thumped his effort straight at Schmid. After the long delay for Fratton Park action, it meant back-to-back home wins and a first clean sheet in nine attempts for Portsmouth, even with head coach John Mousinho banned from the touchline as he watched from the camera gantry.

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