BARRING a succession of highly unlikely planetary alignments, these teams will meet again in the Premier League next season. Yesterday, though, Blackburn Rovers made as good as mathematically sure against an abject Portsmouth, now goalless in 372 minutes, for whom the season cannot end quickly enough.

As those on Teesside may note, Blackburn and Portsmouth changed their manager this season when their status looked perilous; in fact, Portsmouth did it twice. The result, assuming the absence of an unlikely calamity, is joint but unspectacular survival, helmed by new but experienced managers.

Rovers have lost just once at home under Sam Allardyce and, if anything, this scoreline flattered the visitors. “Safety means everything to me,” he said. “It’s down to man-management, to trying to understand the players, to alleviate their fears and to bring out their skills.”

The portents for this match had been far from auspicious. Portsmouth interim manager Paul Hart plumped for Peter Crouch as a lone striker, while Blackburn persisted with centre-half Christopher Samba alongside Benni McCarthy. As misplaced pass followed misplaced pass, the portents seemed eerily accurate.

The rains teemed throughout the first half, the tiny band of Portsmouth fans rattled their cowbells and drums to migraine-inducing levels and both teams struggled for fluency. Even when Stephen Warnock got to the byline to cross venomously just before the half-hour, El Hadji Diouf failed to make meaningful contact from within the six-yard box.

Roused, Rovers wrenched themselves ahead. Warnock, a warrior among conscientious objectors, launched a long high ball into opposition territory. Samba headed down and kept his feet to challenge David James, having one of his less focused afternoons. Goalless all season, Morten Gamst Pedersen tucked the loose ball home for a horribly scrappy goal in keeping with a horribly scrappy game.

If Portsmouth were not quite mentally sunning themselves on a beach, they were packing buckets and spades. The teams swapped ends without Paul Robinson’s wet-ball handling being tested.

Seconds after the restart Rovers might have had another, when Pedersen’s long throw was headed on by Samba. Only a brave Younes Kaboul block deflected Warnock’s volley wide. No matter, Rovers were soon gifted their second when Hermann Hreidarsson foolishly stuck out a hand to block McCarthy’s flick on the edge of the penalty area. McCarthy slammed home the spot-kick.

Three substitutions upped Portsmouth’s tempo and after 74 minutes, Nwankwo Kanu’s terrific reverse pass wrong-footed the Rovers defence. John Utaka rounded Robinson and shot into a seemingly empty goal, only for Ryan Nelsen to appear from nowhere to block.

Just when it seemed as though low could sink no lower, Keith Andrews rashly handled Kanu’s 87th-minute cross, only for Utaka to hoof his dreadful penalty into the chuckling Rovers fans at the Walkersteel End.

“Our worst performance since February,” said Hart, sighing. “We’ve been red-hot since then, but if the players thought the work was done, this was a timely reminder not to take their feet off the pedal.”

Almost certainly Portsmouth will survive, but that survival could hardly be less glorious.

Star man: Stephen Warnock (Blackburn)

Yellow cards: Blackburn: McCarthy, Andrews. Portsmouth: Johnson.

Referee: M Riley.

Attendance: 24,234.

BLACKBURN: Robinson 6, Andrews 6, Nelsen 7, Givet 6, Warnock 8, Diouf 6, Tugay 6, Grella 6, Pedersen 6, McCarthy 7 (Mokoena 83min), Samba 6.

PORTSMOUTH: James 4, Kaboul 6 (Pennant 63min), Campbell 5, Distin 5, Hreidarsson 4, Johnson 5, Mullins 6, Davis 4, Hughes 4 (Kanu 52, 7), Belhadj 4 (Utaka 52, 5), Crouch 5.