New boss Danny Cowley gets off to flying start as Portsmouth overcome Ipswich Town in admirable fashion

From the off, the game had a different feel to it. There was a buzz around Fratton Park which wasn’t apparent in previous weeks. Both dugouts were barking orders and praise to their respective sides and even John Marquis, sidelined with injury, yelled information to his teammates from the stands.

In the opening half an hour, no clear cut chances were created by either side. The two half-chances came from long range free-kicks. Ambitiously, Curtis struck a 35 yard free-kick which was easy pickings for ‘keeper Tomas Holy. Ipswich’s Alan Judge finessed his effort towards the top corner which Craig MacGillivray dealt with, albeit being one for the cameras.

On the 30th minute mark, Pompey had their first warning sign. Midfielder Teddy Bishop slid Norwood in behind, catching out Sean Raggett on his blind side. The striker drilled the ball across the six-yard box but it was well defended to deny Keanan Bennetts a tap in.

A matter of seconds later, it looked all doom and gloom for the hosts again, reminiscent of recent cameos. After 32 minutes, Norwood found himself just inside the 18-yard box after a cute through ball from Gwion Edwards and fired an unstoppable strike into the top left, putting Cowley’s side on the back foot early on in the encounter.

What was different to recent weeks was Portsmouth’s character when going behind. They looked eager to get on with the game and respond, in which they did.

Skipper Naylor nodded his eight goal of the season to put Pompey level minutes before the interval. Wide-man Ronan Curtis, who didn’t really affect the game up until the 40th minute, swung in a delicious in-swinging corner for Naylor to rise above a cluster of players and head home.

Pompey started the second half the same way they finished the first. They posed threat from a set-piece again after Curtis swung another teasing corner into the area for Naylor to attack. Holy got something on it to divert it away from goal, but Raggett followed up and nearly capitalised.

The Cowley brothers altered the team’s personnel with a stroke of genius. Cowley gave Curtis the license to play more inside the pitch rather than left-midfield to cause Aristote Nsiala and James Wilson issues after teasing Luke Chambers all half. As a result, the 24-year-old assisted the winner moments later.

Curtis fizzed a low cross into the box which latched on to Harness to strike. The first shot was blocked, but the ball fell kindly to the former Burton Albion man and he made no mistake from 12-yards out, hammering the ball back across goal and into the bottom left corner.