IT was one occasion when football played second fiddle to raw drama.

From the day three weeks ago that fate decreed Saints would face their fierce rivals in the FA Cup until Peter Crouch sunk the Pompey ship with a controversial injury-time penalty, this was a fourth round tie tinged with a hint of destiny.

With a script straight from the Quentin Tarantino school of Hollywood thought, Harry Redknapp had reluctantly been cast in the lead role.

Yet with the fall-out from his move to Saints still fresh and a major relegation fight on his hands, the Saints boss really didn't need this fixture.

Redknapp maintained a lowish profile in the build-up to the game, kept out of the spotlight during most of the match and looked the most relieved man in St Mary's at the final whistle.

But despite being taunted throughout with chants of 'Judas' from Pompey fans still smarting at his decision to join Saints just two weeks after leaving Fratton Park, it was never a case of settling old scores.

A man of the people, the Saints boss is used to being universally liked and has understandably been stung by what in some quarters has been a harsh response to a desire to take new employment without moving from his Dorset home.

A bit of banter in football is all well and good, but the Saints boss did not deserve any nasty edge that had threatened but thankfully did not overspill at St Mary's on Saturday.

Indeed, events on the pitch came to overshadow the build-up, with referee Steve Bennett certainly making his case for best supporting actor following two controversial penalty decisions and a sending-off.

As a starter, though, the first-half was rather like luke-warm soup.

Saints again lined up in the 4-5-1 formation that worked so well against Liverpool last week and attempted to flood the midfield with Peter Crouch taking the role of lone-striker.

The one change was the replacement of Jamie Redknapp with Matt Oakley in the holding role in the centre of midfield. It was a case of resting Redknapp Junior from what, given Saints' league position, are more important forthcoming games of Birmingham on Wednesday and Everton next Sunday.

The younger Redknapp, though, was missed with Saints struggling to gain possession as Pompey played the better football in the early stages.

Manager Velimir Zajec opted to play Aliou Cisse in the shielding position in front of the back four, with the likes of Patrick Berger and Diomansy Kamara finding space to showcase their skill.

But despite some slick passing both Kamara and Berger, as well as striker Yakubu, were guilty of wasting several decent positions as Saints central defenders Claus Lundekvam and Calum Davenport stood firm and continued to show signs of building a good partnership.

The match, though, was to explode into life on 54 minutes.

Crouch was blocked in the act of shooting and the rebound found its way to Oakley courtesy of a perfectly weighted pass from Anders Svensson.

And Oakley's superb, rising 20-yard drive flew straight into the top right-hand corner.

Lundekvam's next challenge, though, was clumsy.

The contact was admittedly minor, but it was also somewhat unnecessary as he came across the surging Kamara in the penalty area and just clipped the Senegalese star.

Referee Bennett immediately pointed to the spot. Kamara and Paul Telfer clashed angrily in front of the Pompey fans, but Yakubu duly sent Niemi the wrong way with his penalty.

A feeling of injustice seemed to spur Saints and they created a flurry of chances.

To this point, Pompey's new Greek goalkeeper Kosta Chalkias had had little to do.

A giant of a physical presence maybe, but he suddenly became more Tom Thumb with some of his handling of crosses.

First he flapped at a Rory Delap long-throw with Crouch's header cleared off the line by Matt Taylor and then he made an ambitious attempt to gather Oakley's deep corner. The ball broke to Danny Higginbotham who fired home only to see linesman Mike Tingey raise his flag for offside.

Poor Joe Jordan later had to defend the frankly baffling decision to replace Shaka Hislop with Chalkias in the Portsmouth goal.

Still, it didn't affect Pompey unduly with Yakubu forcing Niemi to make a fine save low to his left on 69 minutes.

But moments later there was more controversy when Kamara received his marching orders having grabbed the ball after tripping over his own legs.

It was harsh on Pompey's best player, but he had already been booked, and Bennett duly applied the letter of the law and issued a second yellow for deliberate handball.

Kenwyne Jones was introduced for Saints and Ricardo Fuller for Pompey with both almost inspiring their teams to victory.

Fuller, in particular, missed a golden opportunity when he blasted over late on.

But there was to be a final, dramatic twist. With injury-time being played, David Prutton put over a cross. Pompey fullback Taylor lunged at the ball and it bounced off him. Was it arm? Was it shoulder? Where does one end and the other begin?

Bennett initially appeared to wave play-on but his assistant was flagging.

A lengthy consultation with Tingey followed. And, as the tension became close to unbearable, Bennett finally pointed to the spot for handball.

In a manner that suggested he had never heard of the word tension, Crouch took possession of the ball and calmly slotted it into the corner. It was the 93rd minute.

In this most fated of FA Cup ties, it was somehow fitting that a man who once played for Pompey should be the one to end what had been a brave challenge.

For Saints, it was a less convincing performance than last week's 2-0 win over Liverpool - yet it tasted far sweeter to most inside St Mary's.

More importantly, that winning habit seems to have been found.