PETER REID CAME WITHIN FOUR minutes of hanging on to his job as manager of Leeds United on Saturday. With the match in doubt because of a floodlight failure, Portsmouth were given until 3.30 to get the game on. Unfortunately for Reid, play eventually started at 3.26, and by the final whistle, Leeds had suffered their worst Premiership reverse and their heaviest defeat in the top flight since 1959.

It was also the largest margin of victory anywhere in the Premiership this season. Harry Redknapp’s side showed that they do not have to rely solely on Teddy Sheringham for goals, their six shared between five other players, including a brace from Gary O’Neil on his Premiership debut. But they were assisted by an abject performance from Leeds, especially a second half described by Reid as “my worst 45 minutes in football”.

If anything went in Reid’s favour, it was that Professor John McKenzie, the chairman, did not attend the match. He would not have been impressed, but then neither was Reid. “We just didn’t get a tackle in, we didn’t hold the ball,” he said. “Every time they went forward it looked as though they were going to score. This club doesn’t deserve this. It’s gone through bad, bad times, and you can have defeats, you can handle that, but the manner in which we got rolled over in those 45 minutes — words fail me.”

Communication on any level did not seem to be one of Leeds’s great strengths. A disorganised defence seemed barely on speaking terms, and certainly were not on marking terms with Dejan Stefanovic when he headed home Patrik Berger’s corner after 16 minutes.

Leeds equalised two minutes later when Alan Smith lifted the ball expertly over Shaka Hislop, but it was a false dawn. They were behind again in first-half injury time, O’Neil volleying home with the help of a deflection from 25 yards, and fell to pieces after Hayden Foxe was given time and space to fire the third after 62 minutes.

The absence of Mark Viduka, dropped after a row with Reid on Friday, was not a factor, most of the problems stemming from a listless midfield. They barely made a challenge as a four-man move ended with O’Neil side-footing his second, Sheringham set up Berger to round Paul Robinson for the fifth, and Yakubu Aiyegbeni knocked in the sixth at the second attempt. “We thought it would be a tough game, and it was until we went 3-1 up and they seemed to fold a little,” O ’Neil said with masterly understatement.

Nevertheless, the Leeds supporters continued to sing. “I’m embarrassed by how good the fans are,” Reid said. “I do feel for them because they have been tremendous.” And while the supporters embarrassed Reid, Portsmouth embarrassed his team. Ten minutes from time, to the delight of the Fratton Park crowd, they kept possession with ease in a passage of play reminiscent of the way the Leeds side of the 1970s had once toyed with Southampton.

No one expects this Leeds team to perform as those illustrious predecessors did but it has players who are supposed to be pretty useful performers all the same. Reid will carry the can for failing to get the maximum out of them, and the previous board is culpable for the financial mismanagement that led to other players being sold, but some of this Leeds squad can have no excuse for their showings on Saturday.

Roque Júnior, admittedly in an unfamiliar midfield role, did so much spectating that he should have been charged admission, and anyone who did not know better, on being told that the Brazilian has World Cup and European Cup winners’ medals, would have to assume that they are being giving away in packs of cornflakes.

Footballers who are reputedly worth millions and reported to be earning more than £30,000 per week were shown up by a Portsmouth team that cost less than Leeds paid for Seth Johnson, made up of free transfer signings such as Steve Stone, youngsters such as O’Neil and bargain buys like Stefanovic, and all, according to Redknapp, on a fraction of the average Elland Road wage. That might be something for the Leeds players to consider as they drive their Ferraris to work today and wonder — assuming they even care — whether they have got their manager the sack.

Portsmouth (4-4-2): S Hislop 6 — S Schemmel 6, H Foxe 5, D Stefanovic 7, A De Zeeuw 6 — S Stone 7 (sub: M Taylor, 83min), T Sherwood 6, G O’Neil 7, P Berger 8 — E Sheringham 6, Yakubu Aiyegbeni 7. Substitutes not used: H Wapenaar, B Zivkovic, L Primus, J Roberts. Booked: De Zeeuw. NEXT: Fulham (a). FORM: WLLWLL

Leeds United (4-4-1-1): P Robinson 5 — G Kelly 5, M Duberry 4, D Matteo 4, S Olembe 4 — J Pennant 3 (sub: L Sakho, 56 4), J Morris 3, Roque Júnior 2 (sub: M Bridges, 71), Seth Johnson 3 — J Milner 5 — A Smith 5. Substitutes not used: S Carson, I Harte, Z Camara. Booked: Olembe, Johnson, Smith, Matteo. NEXT: Bolton (h). FORM: LLLLWL

Shots on target: (h) 12 (a) 6. Fouls: (h) 9 (a) 11. Offsides: (h) 1 (a) 1

Referee: C Foy 6. Attendance: 20,112