Pompey survived a late onslaught from relegation-threatened Walsall to record their 11th away win of the season, and take a giant step towards the Premiership.

A relieved Harry Redknapp admitted: "We're so nearly where we want to be, if we keep winning then we will get there.

"We want the championship too, now we've got this close."

Pompey took early control and an apparently unassailable two-goal lead in the first half-hour, and Redknapp said: "In that first half I have never seen a team dominated so much in my life as Walsall were.

"I was looking forward to enjoying a comfortable second half. But we conceded a sloppy goal, were playing keep-ball but gave it away, and it gave them a real lifeline."

Pompey striker Yakubu limped off after 20 minutes to be replaced by Deon Burton, and Redknapp said afterwards: "He has pulled a hamstring, so he will be struggling for a few weeks now."

With Vincent Pericard out for the season, Redknapp has recalled Lee Bradbury from his loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday.

Pompey wing-back Kevin Harper, pictured right, opened the scoring on 15 minutes with a brilliant individual goal, running virtually from the halfway line through the heart of the defence before slotting his shot past 'keeper Ward.

When Pompey man-of-the-match Tim Sherwood burst through the home defence and hooked the ball across for Todorov to score with a neat header on 33 minutes, it looked game over.

But on the stroke of half-time, in a rare home sortie, some casual play by Blues defender Hayden Foxe let in Saddlers' impressive Brazilian striker Junior.

He promptly ired home a left-footed shot from a tight angle in off 'keeper Hislop's far post.

That strike changed the whole complexion of the game and set the scene for a second half unrecognisable from the first.

Pompey were on the back foot for much of a lively second half, though Merson had a shot cleared off the line by defender Ian Roper.

In stoppage time the home side came agonisingly close to a deserved equaliser when Hay headed back across goal to Junior who just couldn't get the vital touch to convert.

Minutes earlier there was controversy when Pompey 'keeper Hislop appeared to punch the ball clear from outside his area, but the Saddlers' appeals for a free-kick and a sending off were to no avail.

Saddlers boss Colin Lee said: "I asked the referee about it but he said he was too far away to tell. But I said 'what about the linesman?' He knows he was wrong.

"Those types of decisions can make a difference. But you have to accept defeat in the right manner.

"I am very disappointed, but if I am going to lose to the best team in the league, playing the way we did is the way I would want to lose."

Pompey: Hislop, Primus, Foxe, Festa, Stone, Harper, Sherwood, Quashie, Merson (Sub: O'Neil), Yakubu (Sub: Burton), Todorov. Subs unused: Kawaguchi, Diabate, Heikkinen.