Some words sit comfortably together, such as Heurelho Gomes and clangers, and Arsène Wenger and unsighted, but if football’s lexicon were rewritten today, it would be unlikely to include West Ham United and nil-nil. Even Gianfranco Zola did his best to extend West Ham’s record of 26 previous matches without a clean sheet when, after a sterile first half, his defence parted to allow Jermain Defoe three one-on-ones. “We took a risk,” the manager said. “When you do, sometimes you concede. We were lucky.”

West Ham’s fourth goalless draw in more than 2½ seasons owed much to Robert Green’s excellence in goal and Defoe’s wastefulness, brought on, in the opinion of Tony Adams, the Portsmouth manager, by an overeagerness to score at Upton Park, where he handed in a transfer request hours after they were relegated five years ago. Green denied Defoe by acrobatically tipping over one shot, then clawing away a lob, and smothering another effort. While Defoe’s sharpness has been enough to restore him to the England squad recently, Green found himself dropped on Saturday night by the watching Fabio Capello, having been restored to the squad for the matches against Kazakhstan and Belarus last month.

Consistency and developing his game beyond shot-stopping may be the key. “To be in the national team you have to perform at high levels all the time,” Zola said. “Today he did and was fantastic.”

David James, Green’s opposite number and England No 1, did his best to liven up the match with a walk-about late on, but the only meaningful opportunity for West Ham – who were too narrow and one-geared – came when Craig Bellamy struck the bar from a curled free kick. “You get sick of letting goals in,” Green said. “It’s good to get that monkey off the back.”

As an Arsenal defender, Adams staked his reputation on clean sheets but even he took no pride from Portsmouth’s second goalless draw in six league matches. “We [Arsenal] were much more boring than that,” Adams said.

West Ham United (4-3-2-1): R Green 8 – L Neill 7, J Collins 5, M Upson 5, H Ilunga 6 (sub: J Faubert, 61min 5) – V Behrami 6, S Parker 6 (sub: H Mullins, 75), J Collison 6 – F Sears 5 (sub: M Etherington, 46 5), C Bellamy 6 – C Cole 6. Substitutes not used: J Lastuvka, C Davenport, L Bowyer, D Di Michele. Next: Sunderland (a).

Portsmouth (4-4-2): D James 6 – G Johnson 7, Y Kaboul 6, S Distin 6, N Pamarot 6 – P Bouba Diop 5, S Davis 5, L Diarra 5 (sub: A Traoré, 19 6), N Belhadj 7 – P Crouch 6 (sub: Kanu, 75), J Defoe 6. Substitutes not used: J Ashdown, H Hreidarsson, D Nugent, A Mvuemba, R Hughes. Booked: Pamarot. Next: Hull City (h).

Referee M Atkinson Attendance 32,328