Joey Barton is not a fan of footballers’ autobiographies, but when the Manchester City midfield player sits down with his ghost-writer, his version of events on Saturday will make for interesting reading.

Three days after making his England debut, Barton became the villain of this match by stamping on Pedro Mendes’s left ankle after 40 minutes. Depending on your point of view and who you support, it was either a cynical challenge or an accident. Mendes, who was the victim of an horrific assault by Ben Thatcher when the sides played at the City of Manchester Stadium in August, was carried off on a stretcher and Barton received a yellow card from Mike Dean when many in the ground felt that red would have been a more appropriate colour.

“Joey Barton is a good player but it was a bad challenge,” Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, said. “He is not going to say, ‘I meant to do the bastard’, but I saw it on TV and I was upset.” Redknapp was sent to the stands amid accusations that he had sworn at Dean in the referee’s room during the interval.

Mendes had given Portsmouth an early lead from 25 yards, but City looked the more likely winners when Bernardo Corradi levelled the scores by heading past David James from a cross by Darius Vassell after 62 minutes. But slack marking allowed Kanu to settle the issue from close range in the 81st minute.

Barton was the last player to leave the pitch after the final whistle, acknowledging the City supporters as Portsmouth fans bayed for his blood, but it was left to James, his former teammate, to sum up the midfield player’s performance. “Joey is a 100 per cent guy,” the goalkeeper said. “But he has to learn that you can’t be 100 per cent all the time.”