After Pompey had dropped their first points at Fratton Park in a 1-1 draw with Coventry, manager Harry Redknapp didn't appear too disappointed.

He said: "Coventry are a quality side. They were only playing in the Premiership two years ago so we have to be happy with a point.

"We had a couple of good chances to seal it near the end, but we are not going to win every week - we are not Real Madrid!"

"I am delighted with the start we have made. We are on course for 80 points and we've proved that we are not going to be beaten easily.

"We will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season."

Redknapp was full of praise for striker Vincent Pericard: "Of all the players I had signed, he was the one I thought was going to be my biggest mistake.

"Early in the season, I thought 'what have I done'. But now he is getting better and better with every game.

"He has scored four goals in succession now and he took his goal really well, showing great strength against experienced defenders."

A sell-out crowd were treated to a rip-roaring encounter, littered with clear goal chances, which could have gone either way.

A stream of shots and headers missed the target at both ends, with Pompey's Svetoslav Todorov and City's Lee Mills the biggest culprits.

The Bulgarian scorned three gilt-edged chances and the former Pompey man hit the woodwork twice.

Tactically the honours went to the Sky Blues who swamped the midfield with a defensive five-man line-up, starring the Morrocans Chippo and Safri, which frustrated Paul Merson and Nigel Quashie who struggled to impose themselves creatively.

In the fascinating battle of the 'golden oldies', 37-year old Gary McAllister, the City player-manager, who afterwards felt it was his side's "best performance of the season", was in inspirational form and Merson was often left as a peripheral figure.

The young Frenchman, Vincent Pericard, on loan from Juventus, was a constant thorn in the City side with his close control and great strength, and it was his exquisite finish which brought Pompey's opener on 50 minutes. Merson had clipped a telling pass into Pericard's path and he powered on and coolly beat the giant City 'keeper Fabien Debec.

In nine minutes City were deservedly level, but it took a freak goal to breach the Pompey defence.

Arjan De Zeeuw's strong clearance, from a dangerous McSheffrey cross, hit the unwitting Linvoy Primus on the back of the head and squirmed back to City defender Calum Davenport six yards out.

His scuffed mis-hit shot found its way through a crowd of players and trickled past the unsighted Hislop in the Pompey goal.

After De Zeeuw had hit the City crossbar with a header, the winner looked certain to come in the frenetic finale.

Pompey substitute Mark Burchill drove a close-range shot against 'keeper Debec's legs and then amazingly at the other end a wrong-footed Hislop managed to keep out a Partridge effort with one leg.

Pompey: Hislop, De Zeeuw, Taylor, Primus, Festa, Diabate, O'Neil (sub Ritchie 69), Quashie, Todorov (sub Burchill 84), Merson, Pericard. Subs not used: Kawaguchi, Harper, Robinson.

Coventry: Debec, Konjic, Caldwell, Davenport, Chippo, Pipe (sub McSheffrey), Quinn, Safri, Partridge, McAllister, Mills (sub Bothroyd 78).

Subs not used: Hyldgaard, Gordon, Eustace.