Rose and Chaplin on target for Blues
Pompey brought their Irish tour to a close with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Bohemians.
Both goals arrived in the first half, with a couple of neat finishes from Danny Rose and Conor Chaplin.
Paul Cook’s side dominated proceedings and created enough chances to have won by a greater margin in Dublin.
A healthy number of Pompey fans were packed into one side of the dilapidated Dalymount Park.
And they saw their side control the first half, with plenty of openings carved out in the final game of the Blues’ Irish tour.
Bohemians keeper Shane Supple did well to keep the scores level early on, racing from his line to deny Carl Baker.
Chaplin then saw two shots blocked in quick succession before an effort from Kyle Bennett met the same fate.
The blue tide kept pouring forward and Milan Lalkovic’s drive was comfortable for Supple, while Baker could not avoid a visiting defender after rounding the Bohs keeper.
There was a nasty moment midway through the first half, however, as Stephen Best came off worse in a challenge with Bennett and had to be stretchered from the pitch.
Pompey soon broke the deadlock, with Lalkovic stealing possession and feeding ROSE, who neatly dinked the ball into the net.
Chaplin almost doubled the lead moments later, only for Supple to stick out a hand and divert his angled drive wide.
But the Blues did increase their advantage in stoppage-time, as CHAPLIN took advantage of a poor back-pass and kept his composure to round the keeper and slot home.
Half Time: Bohemians 0 Pompey 2
Pompey picked up where they left off following the interval, although Chaplin was not quite able to force a shot through a packed six-year box.
But Bohemians did have a couple of chances of their own, even if efforts from Ayman Ben Mohamed and Mark Quigley failed to overly trouble Martin Crowe in the Blues goal.
When the action returned to the other end of the pitch, Bennett was crudely felled right on the edge of the box, only for Enda Stevens’ low free-kick to be cleared.
Baker was next to try his luck following good work from the lively Lalkovic, but saw his shot deflected wide.
A steady stream of substitutions from the visitors disrupted any fluidity, as the game began to drift towards it conclusion.
There was a shot from Brandon Haunstrup – playing in a more advanced role than usual – but it rolled comfortably into Supple’s arms.
And Pompey suddenly looked brighter in the closing stages, with Ben Tollitt denied by a fine save before Gary Roberts narrowly failed to find the target.
They could not find another goal to reward those who had made the trip across the Irish Sea.
But the travelling Blues fans would have seen their players make another step forward as they prepare for their opening League Two encounter next month.
Bohemians (4-4-2): Supple; O’Hora (Hollywood 78), Mulcahy (c), Best (Lopes 31), Fitzgerald (Kelly 17 (Akinade 78)); P.Kavanagh (Buckley 46), Morris, J.Kavanagh, Caffrey (Flynn 81); Mohamed (Graydon 74), Quigley
Pompey (4-2-3-1): Crowe (Bass 69); Talbot (Sessegnon 72), Burgess, Barton (Whatmough 69), Stevens; Rose, Doyle; Bennett (Roberts 58), Baker (May 77), Lalkovic (Haunstrup 69); Chaplin (Tollitt 60)
Goals: Rose 33, Chaplin 45+1