A GAME every bit as sterile as the scoreline suggests almost ended with Portsmouth, reduced to 10 men by the sending off of Glen Johnson, pinching all three points when Hermann Hreidarsson’s header deep into stoppage time bounced back off the far post.

It would have been undeserved, in that neither side was sufficiently creative or indeed positive enough to deserve the win, and both managers admitted as much.

“A lot of our players have had a very difficult week, flying all over the world, or in the case of our England players playing twice, and while it was a matter of inches at the end, I think we have to be happy with the point,” said Portsmouth’s manager, Paul Hart.

“The lack of quality in the final third was there for everyone to see,” acknowledged City’s Phil Brown. “We only worked their goalkeeper once and they only worked ours once, but if the bottom three don’t win, and you get something, it’s probably a point gained.” The first 20 minutes or so, if hardly thrilling, at least contained sufficient moments of interest to keep the crowd’s attention fixed on the pitch. Peter Crouch’s ambitious volley from outside the penalty area skewed well wide, and Johnson’s cross after a mistake by Andy Dawson gave Crouch the chance to prove, once again, that he still hasn’t really worked out how to head the ball properly.

Manucho, showing rather better technique than Crouch, volleyed Bernard Mendy’s cross wide, but the best chance of the half fell to Younes Kaboul. Up for a corner, the Portsmouth full-back was unmarked when Crouch’s nod back into the six-yard box left him with only City goalkeeper Matt Duke to beat; unfortunately for the visitors, he could not keep his header down.

More unfortunately still for those who had travelled up from the south coast to cheer on their team, that was to be as close as Pompey came to scoring until the final minute. In fact, bar one Craig Fagan attempt just after the hour, it was as close as anybody came.

Fagan’s chance, coming after Hayden Mullins inexplicably directed a header back into his own penalty area, was a good one, but James, standing exposed on his six-yard line, pulled off an impressively athletic save as Fagan attempted to head the ball beyond him. The England goalkeeper rightly allowed himself a quiet s mile of satisfaction.

Other than Hreidarsson’s late header, only referee Chris Foy’s ridiculous decision to show Johnson a second yellow card was worth noting. Playing in midfield, Johnson had been sailing close to the wind for a while, but didn’t even make a challenge when Dean Marney’s follow-through caught him on the knee.

Marney’s dramatic reaction appeared to convince Foy there had been some sort of intent by Johnson.

“It was a difficult decision to understand,” said Hart, and as it was a second yellow card rather than a straight red, Portsmouth cannot appeal.

Brown had less sympathy.

“What you saw was an overmotivated player,” he said.

Star man: David James (Portsmouth)

Yellow cards: Portsmouth: Johnson, Crouch Red card: Portsmouth: Johnson

Referee: C Foy

Attendance: 24,802

HULL: Duke 6, Ricketts 6 (Folan 86min), Turner 6, Zayat-te 7, Dawson 6, Ashbee 7, Mendy 5, Geovanni 6, Barm-by 6 (Marney 73min), Fagan 6 (Kilbane 70min), Manucho 6.

PORTSMOUTH: James 8, Kaboul 6, Campbell 6, Distin 6, Hreidarsson 6, Johnson 6, Mullins 5, Kranjcar 6 (Belhadj 76min), Hughes 6, Crouch 5, Nugent 4 (Kanu 63min).