Portsmouth 2 Wanderers 3

SAY what you like about Gary Megson’s Wanderers but they know how to pull out a result when they desperately need one.

This one was always going to be all or nothing. For the winner, a fresh start but for the loser, at best, another week spent in purgatory.

Wanderers seem to be at their best when backed into a corner, which is exactly where they found themselves after three successive defeats.

The performance was incidental, which is just as well because the Whites have played better in at least two-and-a-half games so far this season.

Gary Cahill’s late winner may have had an element of fortune to it but at least it restores some faith in the footballing gods, following the 3-2 reverse against Liverpool a fortnight earlier.

It was all about the end game and, this morning, Megson drives into Euxton knowing his side’s season starts here, with two winnable games against Stoke City and Birmingham City on the immediate horizon.

How quickly Paul Hart would like to swap places.

Friends though they may be off the pitch, Megson and Hart are experienced enough to know how the game works. There’s little room for sentiment even though both men were well aware of what the next seven days would hold after a negative result.

“What would people have been saying if we had lost?” Megson said.

“That is part of the worry in football. It’s not always what you have to deal with at the time, it’s the worry of what you know you’ll have to deal with if things don’t go right.

“I didn’t say anything to the players because I didn’t think it was right but I knew if there was a winner, it would give such a boost to the team that did win but be such a kick in the teeth to the club that lost. All the things that are in the periphery suddenly become centre stage.

“It’s not a case of feeling sorry for Harty because he’s a great lad, a good coach and a good friend. Dog eat dog isn’t the right phrase but we try to beat everyone we can.

“Unfortunately, as friendly as you are with people in football, when you are doing your job you become absolutely one-eyed, selfish and concentrate on your own team.”

The Pompey chimes were not the only things jangling before kick-off, with nerves very much on show from both sets of players.

Wanderers played at a frenetic pace early on with David James parrying an early header from Tamir Cohen over the bar just nine minutes in.

Gretar Steinsson, playing on the right side of midfield to great effect, then played a fine ball to unlock the Pompey back line, leaving Matt Taylor with a clear route on goal. Unfortunately, the aforementioned nerves caused him to slash a shot wide with his weaker right foot.

The pressure told, and it was another great reverse ball from Steinsson that freed Cohen inside the box, leaving the in-form Israel international to blast home from the angle.

That prompted a reaction from Pompey — and following a number of dangerous set pieces from debutant Jamie O’Hara, Younes Kaboul finally got a telling touch, forcing a header home past Jlloyd Samuel on the line.

With the crowd well behind them, the home side’s dander was now well and truly up.

Luckily for Wanderers, the final ball often did not match the build-up play — especially from the rampaging Anthony Vanden Borre on the right.

Frederic Piquionne and Tommy Smith both fired narrowly over the bar as the pressure built but just as it seemed that Wanderers’ defences would relent, they finally got a break.

Nadir Belhadj gave the ball away just outside his own box, allowing Fabrice Muamba to feed Kevin Davies, whose progress was checked by a heavy challenge by former Wanderer Tal Ben Haim. Referee Chris Foy pointed immediately to the spot, although television replays have since shown the defender may have got a slight touch to the ball.

Taylor stepped up to convert the penalty with remarkable poise considering he had been given rough treatment from fans who had been singing his name in a more positive light before kick-off.

Pompey had two penalty appeals of their own turned down either side of the break, as Tommy Smith and Kevin Prince Boateng went tumbling to the turf. On both occasions, the referee seemed to get it right.

The sense of injustice spurred on the home side and, driven on by the increasingly influential Boateng and O’Hara, they pressed for an equaliser.

It was the former who arrived at the right time to side-foot home from 10 yards after Zat Knight had only cleared a cross to the edge of his own penalty area. After such an effort, both sides opted to make wholesale changes. Ivan Klasnic made his long-awaited Wanderers debut, showing some classy touches and graceful movement in the final 30 minutes.

The game looked to be petering out into a draw, which would probably not have helped either side. Cahill thought otherwise.

The soon-to-be England centre-half popped up in the penalty box four minutes from the end to chest down Klasnic’s pass but with the goal begging, he chose to try and lift the ball back over Ben Haim and the chance was gone.

Perhaps fearing the backlash of such a decision, he stayed put. Moments later, Jlloyd Samuel’s long throw found its way to him after a succession of headers and, at the second attempt, he nodded the ball past James for a memorable winner.

Yes, Taylor was in an offside position as the ball was flicked on. Yes, Pompey felt hard done by. But it was refreshing to be on the opposite end of all this injustice.