HOW reassuring to know that money still isn’t everything. Manchester City are wallowing in it but Portsmouth, raising their game in the second half and rising high out of the ashes of recent defeat, beat them fair and square. For those of us who delighted last Tuesday in the performance of Brazil against Italy on the Arsenal ground, the most perplexing puzzles of the match were Robinho and Elano, who did such magical things that evening but were ineffectual yesterday.

Robinho, who scored a mesmerising goal against Italy, looked as if he couldn’t care less. It was no surprise when he was substituted midway through the second half. Elano committed himself more than Robinho but had negligible impact. The mystery of City’s tactics was the bewildering use, or misuse, of Craig Bellamy. City, as their manager Mark Hughes emphasises, may not have paid anywhere near £14m for the Welsh international but if they use him like this in the future, it will still be money down a drain. Bellamy at his best was a wonderfully exciting player offering speed, control and penetration. But put him, small as he is, as the solitary man up front, as happened yesterday, and you are wasting what he has. Perhaps it was no surprise that he was booked near the end, for at the root of his misdemeanour was frustration.

This was Pompey’s first game without the much-discussed Tony Adams. His place has been taken by a very experienced coach in Paul Hart, once a powerful centre-back in a notable Leeds United defence. It was rumoured that the players had lost belief in Adams. The Portsmouth goalkeeper David James, largely untroubled all afternoon while establishing a new record with his 536th appearance in the Premier League, recently said as much.

Perhaps James chose an inapposite time to speak, since last Wednesday in Seville he alarmingly dropped a deflected shot, one more mistake in a career replete with them but also a career with a long catalogue of spectacular saves. At his best, James is the best English goalkeeper of his time. But as we have seen in such places as Vienna and Copenhagen, he can have alarmingly erratic days. Yesterday was not one of them, but then he was largely unemployed with the exception of a spectacular save five minutes from the end when the promising Shaleum Logan crossed from the right and Evans got his head to the ball. It was the save that suitably crowned James’s day.

As for his opposite number, Shay Given, who after all those distinguished years at Newcastle joined City in the recent transfer window, he must be wondering if he has jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. He had no chance with Portsmouth’s two goals, scored within five minutes of each other late in the second half. A glorious right-wing run by Glen Johnson led to the first. Accelerating past Wayne Bridge as swiftly and elusively as any true winger, the full-back raced on and shot, and when Given blocked the ball, he simply followed up and drove it home.

The second goal arrived on 75 minutes when Jermaine Pennant took a corner from the right and Hermann Hreidarsson, exploiting a retracted defence, headed it forcefully in. There could have been another goal for Johnson when again he roared past Bridge, cut in and shot, but this time the young Manchester City right-back, Logan, kicked the ball off the line with Given beaten.

In a largely dour first half, there had been little sign of Portsmouth eventually being able to play ducks and drakes with the visiting defence.

David Nugent, lively but ultimately inconclusive, had his chances to score then as he did after half-time. In the ninth minute Pennant found Peter Crouch, whose shot flew straight at Given. Nugent then outstripped the visiting defence but as Given rushed out to dive at his feet, he shot past the near post.

Hart, promoted from youth team coach for the occasion, eulogised James for his late save from Ched Evans’s header and reflected: “We had a game plan and stuck to it. Real discipline. A clean sheet was the order of the day. We were determined to make life difficult for them. If we’d been anything other than disciplined, they’d have ripped us apart.”

Hughes admitted: “It was very disappointing from our point of view. If you don’t hit a level you get beat. We had a lot of possession without creating anything worthwhile.”

PORTSMOUTH: James 7, Johnson 8, Hreidarsson 7, Crouch 6, Nugent 6, Pennant 7 (Belhadj 87min), Distin 6, Kranjcar 6, Campbell 6, Davis 6, Basinas 6 (Mullins 67min).

MANCHESTER CITY: Given 7, Onuoha 6, Zablaleta 6 (Evans 79min), Ireland 6, Robinho 5 (Caicedo 66min), Elano 6, Bridge 5, Logan 6, Kompany 6, De Jong 5, Bellamy 5 (Evans 79min )