Portsmouth denied victory at PO4 as Connor Ogilvie's second half goal is disallowed, meaning the spoils are shared on the South Coast.
Portsmouth climb out of the bottom 3 after securing a point against Norwich City under the lights at Fratton Park.
John Mousinho’s side now sit in 21st place on 17 points, narrowly above Cardiff and Plymouth on goal difference and Hull still sit bottom on 15 points ahead of what will be Reuben Selles’ first game in charge as the new Hull City boss.
Pompey were without this season's talisman Callum Lang and midfielder Andre Dozzell after they picked up their fifth yellow cards of the season this past Saturday.
Lang and the former Ipswich man will return to the squad this Friday evening, as the Blues travel to Pride Park in their visit against Derby County.
Owen Moxon made his first ever Championship start, coming in to replace Dozzell in the middle of the park and Paddy Lane came in to make his first start since his Achilles injury that he picked up away at Cardiff back in October.
Norwich were coming off the back of a humiliating 3-0 defeat at Loftus Road to QPR, which was one of the very few games that Championship top scorer Borja Sainz had not scored in this season.
The first half was fairly open for large portions, but Pompey arguably had more of the play inside the first few minutes through Josh Murphy who certainly gave Jack Stacey a challenge.
Sainz had the best chance near the half hour mark, but Austrian Keeper Nicholas Schmid got to the ball at his near post comfortably.
Both sides had chances from corners, but ultimately neither side could find a way of getting the ball into the net, keeping the score level going into the break.
Half-time: Portsmou
th 0-0 Norwich City
Mousinho decided to change things around at half time, bringing off Regan Poole for Tom McIntyre who makes his first appearance since the beginning of November. The Welshman was already on a booking and referee Andy Kitchen was rather card happy as he handed out six yellow cards in one half.
Poole has not had a rest since his return in September in Pompey’s visit to Burnley, so Mousinho made the smart choice to give the defender some much needed rest for the first time since his ACL injury which kept Poole out for almost a year.
As for Norwich, Kitchen handed out four yellow cards to the Canneries in the first 45, two of which being their defenders in Callum Doyle and Shane Duffy who made life hard for both Bishop and Ritchie in the first half with their aggressive play.
Pompey did in fact score ten minutes into the first half, but Connor Ogilive's effort was ruled out for offside, to the Pompey crowd's disappointment, who were in jubilation thinking that the goal stood.
The returning Lane also had a golden opportunity, but the Pompey number 32’s effort was cleared off the line by Jose Cordoba, despite the winger having an open goal to aim for with former Southampton keeper Angus Gunn being nowhere to be seen.
That effort by lane was one of only 15 shots on target compared to Norwich's five with four not being too far from a goal.
Zack Swanson and Christian Saydee came on at 82 minutes, followed by Elias Sorensen who came on for Lane, who was given the man of the match award.
Norwich substituted the booked trio of Ashley Barnes, Marcelino Nunez and Stacey but Onel Hernandez, Anis Slimane or Kellen Fisher could not make an impact for City with 20 minutes left to play.
Two minutes from the 90, Owen Moxon was booked for a chopping challenge on Emiliano Marcondes who caused a slight scuffle between the sides sets up players with Sainz going nose to nose with West Ham loanee Freddie Potts who was on thin ice after he picked up a yellow card early in the first half.
Moxon was then off to avoid the risk of a second yellow card and miss Pompey’s trip to Derby, so on came Frenchman Abdoulaye Kamara who made his first cameo since the horror 6-1 defeat to Stoke City back in October.
Pompey and Norwich both had corners in added time, but neither side could seal the 3 points at Fratton Park. John Mousinho’s side are now unbeaten in 4 straight championship matches and will be looking to climb further away from the bottom 3 this Friday.
Full-time: Portsmouth 0-0 Norwich City
Portsmouth F.C: 13. Schmid (GK), 3. Ogilvie, 7. Pack (C), 5. Poole (16. McIntyre), Devlin, 30. Ritchie (22. Swanson), 8. Potts, 17. Moxon (25. Kamara), Murphy 32. Lane (18. Sorensen) 9. Bishop (15. Saydee) (Formation: 4-2-3-1)
Unused Subs: 31. Archer (GK), 4. Towler, 20. Silvera, 29. Blair
Manager: John Mousinho
Bookings: Potts 35’ (yellow) Poole 38’ (yellow) Moxon 88’ (yellow)
Norwich City: 1. Gunn (GK), 3. Stacey (35. Fisher) 4. Duffy, 33. Cordoba, 6. Doyle, 26. Nunez (20 Slimane), 19. Sorensen 7. Sainz, 17. Crnac (29. Schwartau) 11. Marcondes, 10. Barnes (25. Hernandez) (Formation: 4-2-3-1)
Unused Subs: 12. Long (GK), 5. Hanley, 14. Chrisene, 18. Forson, 40. Hills
Manager: Johannes Hoff Thorup
Bookings: Barnes 10’ (yellow) Sorensen 30’ (yellow) Stacey 41’ (yellow) Duffy 45’ (yellow) Nunez 60’ (yellow)
Referee: Andrew Kitchen
Venue: Fratton Park
Attendance: 20,151
Shortly after the full-time whistle, Henry Deacon caught up with Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho on the touchline at Fratton Park:
For even more reaction to this game, be sure to tune in from 6pm on Thursday (December 12th) evening for the next instalment of The Football Hour, on which Jake Smith will be joined alongside Tom Chappell and Pepe Lacey to also preview the Blues' trip to Derby County on Friday night.
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