IT HAD been close to six months, with nearly 40 hours of Premiership action at the Walkers Stadium going back to 2 November last year, since the Foxes fans celebrated a home win.

And it was a lacklustre Pompey side that obligingly caved in to put an end to their own eight-match unbeaten run.

Pompey were under siege from the off and, after an early scare when Steve Guppy shot into the side netting, the ever-lively Foxes striker Paul Dickov outpaced Arjan De Zeeuw on six minutes and his fierce cross-shot took a deflection off Matthew Taylor and flew into the net to give the Blues youngster his second own-goal of the season.

Muzzy Izzet, in his last home appearance for Leicester before his predicted move to Birmingham, was dictating play from midfield with the tired-looking Amdy Faye and Alexei Smertin as peripheral figures in the Pompey engine room.

It was Izzet who gave the beleagured Blues defence another scare four minutes later when his flighted free kick crashed against Shaka Hislop's bar and flew away to safety.

Lomana Lua Lua was Pompey's only real threat throughout and he could easily have won a penalty when he was brought down by Dabizas.

But the doomed Foxes were in rampant mood, clearly desperate to send their fans away for the summer with something to cheer after their disastrous season.

Pompey struggled to cope with the home side's direct and strong running approach, epitomised by Marcus Bent and Dickov up front.

On 27 minutes the pair exchanged passes, with Dickov taking the final delivery in space and firing a left-foot shot past Hislop from ten yards to seemingly put the game out of Pompey's reach.

Pompey did briefly rouse themselves after the break and even pulled a goal back with 24 minutes left when Nigel Quashie was put free out on the left in a breakaway and ran on to fire past keeper Ian Walker for the newly qualified Scottish international's first goal of the term.

But within four minutes the Foxes sealed things when the unmarked Dickov's shot was beaten away by Hislop, only for the oncoming James Scowcroft to fire the rebound into the roof of the net from four yards.

There was a late scare for Pompey when Hislop grabbed the ball a yard outside his penalty area, but referee Graham Poll surprisingly, reflecting the forgiving mood of the afternoon, pulled out a yellow card rather than the obvious red.

The supreme efforts of recent weeks in securing Premiership survival had clearly taken their toll on Pompey, who were always second best to a rampant Leicester side.

The Foxes reported had several players in the 'shop window', anxious to secure moves to watching Premiership clubs, and ironically many saved their best performances of the season for this finale.

But that didn't bother the 3,200 travelling Pompey fans who played their part towards the carnival atmosphere prevailing in an afternoon punctuated by Mexican waves.