PORTSMOUTH came back to beat Millwall 2-1 in a scrappy affair on the south coast.

The match lacked any sort of quality across the 90 minutes, with both sides capitalising on the other’s mistakes to score their goals.

Millwall took an early lead when Nicolas Schmid played the ball straight to Jenson Metcalfe and the midfielder curled it into the bottom of the net. Lyndon Dykes then deflected the ball into his own net for Pompey’s equaliser, then Jake Cooper smashed the ball off Thomas Waddingham for the later winner.

While Fratton Park has often proved to be a house of horrors in recent years and it was a slight improvement on last weekend’s disappointment against Lincoln City, Millwall were again not good enough and have won just one game in their last seven. Results are needed soon.

Storm Austen had wreaked havoc on the south coast in the days building up to the game, and despite Portsmouth’s expensive new drainage system, the pitch was noticeably affected from minute one.

Both sides misplaced passes, slipped to the floor and misjudged the bounce of the ball. Millwall, however, were the first to benefit from the conditions.

Pompey keeper Nicolas Schmid had already just about got away with firing a long ball straight to Camiel Neghli, but was punished 20 seconds later when he played a goal kick straight to Metcalfe, who took a touch then fired the ball into the near post fo

Millwall: 4-2-3-1 – Crocombe; Crama (Leonard 75), Cooper, Taylor, Sturge; Metcalfe (Kelly 86), Mazou-Sacko; Neghli, Cundle (Doughty 75), Lisbie (Esse 68); Dykes (Ivanovic 68)

Unused substitutes: Evans, Osei-Tutu, Baggott, Sykes

Portsmouth: 4-2-3-1 – Schmid; Devlin, Poole, Dia, Swanson; Pack, Mohamed; Kamara, Segecic (Adams 61), Kavuma-McQueen (Shade 61); Milovanovic (Waddingham 72)

Unused substitutes: Bielica, Bailey, Kenny, Meghoma, Shein, Umeh

Referee: Tom Reeves