The Blues come from behind twice to snatch a point late on at Fratton Park and keep their Championship survival hopes alive.
Defender Rob Atkinson was at the double for Pompey and managed to record an unwanted hattrick after he scored an own goal to put Derby 2-1 up with just 5 minutes to go.
Atkinson on his return to the side, was able to head home a much-needed equaliser for Portsmouth inside the 6 minutes of injury time that was added on.
It was a chaotic first half in PO4, with many chances for either side to have taken the lead including a Colby Bishop penalty, but it was the second half that really stole the show and was where all four goals were scored.
Inside the opening 5 minutes, Derby keeper Jacob Widell Zetterström chopped down Matt Ritchie inside the penalty area, with referee Ruebyn Ricardo having no other choice to point to the spot.
Despite the tackle arguably being the denial of a goal scoring opportunity, Ricardo only awarded Zetterström a yellow card, which left the Pompey players and fans shocked by the decision.
Subsequently, Bishop stepped up the penalty spot and guided the ball into the bottom left-hand corner, however Zetterström got down to make the save and deny Portsmouth from taking an early lead.
There were plenty of crunching tackles in the first, especially between Derby captain Ebou Adams and Issac Hayden, with both sides being awarded bookings.
Former Portsmouth winger Marcus Harness had three efforts on goal in the first half, with the closest smashing the bar and falling to the feet of Jerry Yates, but the Swansea loanee was unable to give County the lead.
Half time: Portsmouth 0-0 Derby County
On the 70th minute, it was a ball into the box from veteran defender Craig Forsyth that Yates this time connected with to head the ball into the net to give the Rams the lead.
However, just a mere one minute after going a goal down, Atkinson leaped up to head Josh Murphy’s corner to score the first of two equalisers this afternoon for the Blues and make it 1-1.
And the 3rd goal in the space of just 5 minutes was put away by the Portsmouth goal scorer, when the Bristol City loanee Atkinson accidentally clipped Kayden Jackson’s cross into the box, which beat keeper Nicholas Schmid to give Derby the lead again with the clock ticking down.
The pair who could do nothing about what was thought to be the Rams’ winner, then worked together to make it 2-2, with Schmid firing a long ball forward into the Derby box, before Atkinson (again) headed the ball from just inside the box to make things level and Fratton Park absolute irrupt in noise in injury time.
Full-time: Portsmouth 2-2 Derby County
Next up: A trip to East Anglia looms for John Mousinho’s side, as the Blues head to Carrow Road to visit Norwich City on Good Friday, in a 3pm kick-off.
Last time the Blues visited Carrow Road, it was a last gasp winner from Andre Green in an FA Cup 3rd round tie in 2018, which sent Pompey to the fourth round of the competition that year.
In the reverse fixture at Fratton Park back in December, the tie was goalless despite Pompey having the ball in the net at one point, however the goal was ruled out for offside.
Portsmouth: 13. Schmid (GK) 22. Swanson (24. Devlin), 5. Poole, 35. Atkinson, 3. Ogilvie, 45. Hayden (21. Dozzell), 8. Potts (7. Pack), 30. Ritchie (C) (29. Blair), 15. Saydee (10. Yengi), 23. Murphy, 9. Bishop (Formation: 4-2-3-1)
Unused subs: 31. Archer, 2. Williams, 11. O’Mahony, 17. Aouchiche, 18. Bramall
Goals: Atkinson 71, Atkinson 90+1’
Bookings: Swanson 27’, Hayden 33’, Saydee 68’, Bishop 69’, Ritchie 80'
Head coach: John Mousinho
Derby County: 1. Zetterström (GK), 2. Wilson, 6. Langas, 12. Phillips, 25. Clarke, 3 Forsyth, 32. Adams (C), 28. Armstrong, 18. Harness (17. Goudmijn), 10. Yates, 11. Mendez-Laing (19. Jackson) (Formation: 5-3-2)
Unused subs: 31. Vickers (GK), 7. Barkhuizen, 16. Thompson, 21. Rooney, 29. Hendrick, 33. Pieters, 48. Wheeldon
Goals: Yates 70’, Atkinson 75’ (OG)
Bookings: Zetterström 6’, Clarke 21’, Mendez-Laing 34’, Adams 57’
Head coach: John Eustace
Venue: Fratton Park
Referee: Ruebyn Ricardo
Attendance: 20,412 (including 2,155 Derby fans)
You can also listen back to the Pompey Live: Extra-Time podcast, on which Jake Smith was joined alongside Kirsty Roxanne and James Wilson to provide post-match reaction.
The Football Hour returns on Monday (April 14th) evening from 6pm on Express FM with more analysis on today's game at Fratton Park.
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