Pompey won their first trophy for 20 years at a delirious Fratton Park last night.

Not since winning the old Division Three championship in 1983 have Pompey had any silverware in the Fratton Park trophy cabinet.

And the last time they lifted a trophy as prestigious as the First Division championship was when they won the pre-Premiership first division championship . . . in 1950.

But they made hard work of it despite being handed the chance to win the title in front of their own fans thanks to Leicester's failure to beat Norwich in the afternoon.

Two-goal Svetoslav Todorov took his season's tally to 23 and he provided the match-winning strike less than a fortnight after scoring the goal that clinched promotion.

It came at the end of a frenzied first half.

Skipper Paul Merson got Pompey off to the perfect start, netting his first goal at the Fratton End from the penalty spot after Todorov had been upended by Guy Branston with ten minutes gone.

Branston made amends by stabbing home an equaliser after the Pompey defence had got itself in a pickle five minutes later.

Pericard sold Branston a wonderful dummy and crossed for Todorov to steer home at the near post on 22 minutes, only for Chris Swailes to head in a second qualiser from a corner.

In first half injury time Todorov scored what turned out to be the winner from six yards after Vincent Pericard headed home a Nigel Quashie cross, following a wonderful move that began with Gianluca Festa.

Defender Linvoy Primus had been awarded with the player of the year trophy prior to kick off and finished the night with a winners' medal round his neck, having begun the season out of favour.

He said: "It's an incredible feeling, finally it's all happened, the whole day has been superb. I wasn't starting at the beginning of the season but when I got the chance I knew I had to make it as difficult as possible for Harry to leave me out.

"A lot of faith has been behind it and I've played nearly 40 games now. The supporters have been fantastic to me, but I'm going to try not to think about the Premiership before the fixtures come out!"

Manager Harry Redknapp said: "Winning tonight in front of our own fans was the ideal way to do it, it was perfect.

"When I came here I thought getting to the play offs would be a great improvement so this is terrific and I ain't going nowhere.

"It's going to be tough in the Premiership but if the fans get behind us we'll give it a real go next year.

"We won't be spending much money. You can't get much for £10 m nowadays so we'll probably get a few Bosmans in and do it that way."

Pompey: Hislop, Primus, Festa, Foxe, Stone, Quashie, Sherwood, Harper (De Zeeuw 44), Merson, Todorov, Pericard (Yakubu 67).

Attendance: 19,220