IT WAS A WONDER THAT Eddie Gray, whose options as Leeds United caretaker manager seem to narrow by the day, did not join the autograph hunters flocking around Tony Yeboah in the car park before this match and ask the club’s former forward to don a shirt. Without Mark Viduka, their suspended talisman, Leeds were offered an opportunity to climb level with Manchester City, in seventeenth position, and shown to be worse than a side only a year out of the Nationwide League.

Portsmouth were far superior than the scoreline suggests and, in extending their recent haul to 16 points from six matches, all but secured their own position in the Premiership. Elland Road went deathly quiet midway through the second half when, in the lunchtime sunshine, Leeds trailed to goals from Yakubu Ayegbeni and Lomano LuaLua.

Gary Kelly’s late penalty roused the despondent home supporters but an air of acceptance pervaded. Three years on from playing Valencia in the semi-finals of the European Cup, Leeds can expect a first-division derby against Rotherham United next season. If their 6-1 defeat at Fratton Park in November curtailed Peter Reid’s spell as manager, this loss may well have ended the club’s 14-year run in the top flight.

Yeboah was at Elland Road for a dinner to celebrate Leeds’s greatest goals but last night’s function may well have been a subdued affair. In between talks that suggest the new board may be willing to sell the club only a month after taking over — Gerald Krasner, the chairman, is due to reconvene with Steve Parkin, who has made a £20 million bid, this week — relegation looks increasingly certain. “It ’s going to be extremely difficult,” Gray said. “I looked at the fixtures and thought this was a game we had to win, so it’s going to be even more difficult now. We’ll need to win all three games and we haven’t done that in a row all season.”

In the absence of Viduka up front, Gray opted to go for the youth of Simon Johnson, a 21-year-old, but having to field Lucas Radebe and Dominic Matteo, two injury-afflicted central defenders, in the heart of midfield restricted Leeds’s mobility alarmingly. Portsmouth’s ball players enjoyed a field day, especially in the first period, when Amdy Faye, Alexei Smertin and Nigel Quashie linked up with nonchalant fluidity. Faye looped a lovely cross-field ball for Steve Stone in the ninth minute and from his centre to the far post, Yakubu pulled away from Michael Duberry to head in his fifth goal in six matches.

Eyewitnesses said that the Leeds players were involved in a heated row as they went down the tunnel but within five minutes of the restart, their troubles doubled.

Duberry almost sidefooted LuaLua’s centre into his own goal and from Matt Taylor’s subsequent corner, Paul Robinson saved Yakubu’s header only for LuaLua to head over the line for his fourth goal since signing on loan from Newcastle United. Stephen McPhail, Nick Barmby and Aaron Lennon, diminutive but skilful substitutes, improved the quality of Leeds’s build-up play in the latter stages but by then Portsmouth were home and dry. There was only muted disapproval when Linvoy Primus was harshly adjudged — by the assistant referee — to have tugged Duberry’s shirt for Kelly to score but while Shaka Hislop was obliged to make a brilliant save from Barmby five minutes from time, Portsmouth deserved to break through the 40-point barrier.

Not that such an achievement cheered up Harry Redknapp too greatly. “I suppose for a Portsmouth fan, these have been the best two years of their lives, winning the championship and now, hopefully, staying in the Premier League,” the manager said. “I can’t say I enjoyed it. The only enjoyment is when the referee blows his whistle. It’s exhausting and every year’s going to be the same, a struggle against relegation. Next year will be no different.”

Leeds United (4-4-2): P Robinson 6 — G Kelly 5, M Duberry 5, S Caldwell 5, I Harte 4 — J Pennant 6, D Matteo 5 (sub: S McPhail, 46min 6), L Radebe 4 (sub: A Lennon, 71), J Milner 6 — Simon Johnson 4 (sub: N Barmby, 59), A Smith. Substitutes not used: S Carson, M Kilgallon. Booked: Caldwell, Kelly. NEXT: Bolton Wanderers (a). FORM: LLDWWL

Portsmouth (4-4-2): S Hislop — L Primus, A De Zeeuw, D Stefanovic, M Taylor — S Stone (sub: K Harper, 80), A Smertin, A Faye, N Quashie — A Yakubu, L LuaLua (sub: E Sheringham, 74). Substitutes not used: H Wapenaar, J Curtis, E Berkovic. Booked: Smertin, De Zeeuw. NEXT: Fulham (h). FORM: WWWDWW

Shots on target: (h) 4 (a) 5. Fouls: (h) 9 (a) 22. Offsides: (h) 0 (a) 5 Kelly 83 (pen)