It may have been a filthy, miserable, sleety Midlands day, but for big, strong, speedy Portsmouth there was mainly sunshine. They won at Villa Park for the first time since January 1970 - the first time in the top flight since 1955 – with the sort of bravura counter-attacking performance upon which European qualification is built.

For victorious manager Harry Redknapp, however, there was a cloud on the horizon as he responded to the Holte End’s barracking with three raised fingers. “There were people behind me shouting filth,” he thundered.

“What really does my head in and what really turned my stomach was that there were people shouting this filth who had children with them. I do get upset because I was brought up different and I’ve never sworn in front of my children. They should be ashamed of themselves as parents. Do we have to keep accepting this filth?”

“I’m not passing the buck,” said Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill, “but I just didn’t hear it.”

These teams began separated only by goal difference and so delighted were O’Neill and Redknapp by recent performances that they made just one change between them, and that enforced when Stilian Petrov’s hamstring saved O’Neill from a difficult decision and allowed Nigel Reo-Coker to return after suspension for a wretched afternoon that climaxed when he gave away Portsmouth’s clinching third goal.

“A terrific performance,” said Redknapp of his side’s victory. “The top four clubs are on another level, but this system gives us licence to pass and suits my players. There’s no point in having an extra man in midfield if we just lump it up to the forwards.”

Portsmouth have now won six consecutive Premier League away games, although yesterday they were aided and abetted by defending that the Keystone Cops may have considered slapdash. Just nine minutes in they were delighted to find Sylvain Distin wholly unmarked on the edge of the penalty area after a corner fashioned by Niko Kranjcar and Pedro Mendes. Distin’s shot was scuffed but Wilfred Bouma sliced his clearance into the six-yard box where Craig Gardner deftly steered an own goal beyond the bewildered Scott Carson. Neither side could quite believe their luck.

The goal momentarily galvanised Villa as Ashley Young single-handedly set about dragging his team back into the game. Twice Young’s expertly flighted crosses found Martin Laursen in time and space in the penalty area. Twice Laursen put his free headers wide. Twice, too, in the first period would David James make flying saves from Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Portsmouth, though, did not get where they are by wilting. Glen Johnson began to stick closer to Young, and Papa Bouba Diop began to stymie Gareth Barry, who before kick-off was presented with an award for becoming the youngest player to reach 300 Premier League appearances. Yet if Portsmouth’s second goal was less preventable than their first, Villa’s defence hardly covered themselves in glory from the moment Johnson was allowed to drift down the right and feed Sulley Muntari 20 yards out. The Ghanaian toyed with Laursen, sending him first this way and then that, before launching an imperious, unstoppable curler into Carson’s far corner. Wisely, Portsmouth did not sit back after the break. Soon Muntari was heading inches over Carson’s bar after Benjani Mwaruwari had once again called Villa’s defensive resolve into question.

After nine grisly second-half minutes, O'Neill swapped the beleaguered Bouma for former Portsmouth striker Patrik Berger and switched Young to the right. The ploy half-worked: Young initially caused Noe Pamarot similar problems to those he had briefly posed Johnson, while Berger’s eagerness was an example to his ambling colleagues.

Portsmouth simply waited until Villa gifted them another goal. This time James sliced a clearance into the centre circle where it found Reo-Coker. Off the pace all afternoon, he dallied and dithered until Muntari robbed him, gambolled forwards, nutmegged Zat Knight and fired his second exquisite curler past Carson.

Three down, Villa switched to 4-3-3 and finally responded with intent. Distin hauled down Young in the penalty area, Barry crashed home the penalty and so panicked were Portsmouth that James managed to get himself booked for time-wasting.

“Perhaps I’m being screwball,” confessed O’Neill, “but even then I thought we could get something.”

Still Villa struggled to create clear-cut chances until Agbonlahor headed Marlon Harewood’s cross onto the bar in stoppage time, while Diop missed an 86th-minute open goal and then brought a thrilling, flying save from Carson as Villa indiscriminately poured their troops over the Pompey trenches only to be mown down.

“We were ready for this game,” sighed O’Neill. “Or so we thought.”

Player ratings

Aston Villa: Carson 7, Mellberg 5, Knight 5, Laursen 4, Bouma 4 (Berger 54min, 7), Gardner 5 (Harewood 70min), Reo-Coker 4, Barry 6, Young 7, Agbonlahor 6, Carew 5

Portsmouth: James 7, Johnson 6, Campbell 6, Distin 7, Pamarot 6, Mendes 7, Utaka 6 (Kanu 64min), Diop 7, Muntari 7, Kranjcar 6 (Taylor 88min), Mwaruwari

Scorers: Aston Villa: Barry 71 pen. Portsmouth: Gardner og 10, Muntari 40, 61