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Colby Bishop scored his first league goal at Fratton Park since April 2025 Portsmouth moved four points clear of the Championship relegation zone with a stunning victory over second-placed Ipswich Town, which also opened up the promotion race. After a competitive start to the game Pompey scored two goals in quick succession just before the break, with Conor Shaughnessy first heading home from a corner for the opener. Minutes later Colby Bishop slotted the ball into the net from close range, following up a saved John Swift shot, to send the home fans into chants of "we are staying up". The win moves John Mousinho's side up two positions to 19th and above both West Brom and Blackburn Rovers. Ipswich remain in the automatic promotion places, 10 points behind leaders Coventry City, but now two points ahead of Millwall and three in front of both Southampton, who beat Blackburn 3-0, and Middlesbrough. The Tractor boys still have a game in hand but play both Boro and Saints before the end of the season. Southampton beat Blackburn to fire promotion bid Ipswich started the game well and had a great chance to open the scoring when Kasey Mc Ateer was slipped in down the right and found George Hirst in the box, but his shot ended up being blocked behind for a corner. The Blues had a brilliant effort well saved just before the half-hour mark when Millenic Ali let fly from 25 yards with a thunderous right-footed effort that had to be tipped over the bar by Town keeper Christian Walton. The home side were rewarded for a strong end to the first half as Shaughnessy headed the ball home from an Adrian Segecic corner to give his side the lead. Just two minutes later that advantage was doubled as Portsmouth surged forward in attack. Swift had an attempt saved from close range, but it only fell as far as Bishop who was on hand to slot the ball home. The goal was just his fourth of the season and first since netting a penalty against Charlton in the middle of February. Segecic should have added a third for Portsmouth just before the hour mark as Alli dinked a ball towards him in the box but his diving header was pushed wide of the far post. Ipswich substitute Anis Mehmeti went close with less than 20 minutes to go when he drove towards the box and into space but dragged an effort wide of the left-hand post. The visitors pushed for a goal in the final moments of the game, with chances for Hirst and Jaden Philogene, but the match and result belonged to the home side, whose supporters were on their feet and singing to the tune of 'The Great Escape' as they moved closer to safety. This game was postponed twice previously when the Blues had a frozen pitch in January and after heavy rainfall in February. This video can not be played John Mousinho: 'It was the performance of the season' Portsmouth boss John Mousinho speaking to BBC Radio Solent: "In the moment it feels like the best performance since I've been here. "There's been some good ones and that is definitely the best performance of the season, with everything taken into account over the last few weeks I think that is justified. "The mentality off the back of the win on Saturday (at Middlesbrough) was something we haven't had all season. After winning games we wouldn't follow it up - we've only done it once from Charlton to Millwall. "There's been a lot of false dawns where we've won a game and then looked to turn a corner but it's not quite been there. The other pleasing thing was the work rate which was just superb against such a top side tonight. "It's still incredibly tight and tough down the bottom and the margins in the game are incredibly tight, we have to do everything we can to pick up as many points as we can. " This video can not be played Kieran Mc Kenna post Portsmouth (A) Ipswich head coach Kieran Mc Kenna speaking to the media at Fratton Park: "We spoke after the Norwich game that that wasn't the pinnacle, especially when we're playing teams with massive motivations of their own. "Every game is going to be harder and it's gong to take a monumental effort to get the three points - we didn't quite hit the levels tonight but we have games ahead to look forward to, to do it. "Any game you lose you're disappointed and at this stage of the season you're disappointed, so it's too easy to link it to Saturday because whatever happened on Saturday this was going to be a tough game. " After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users. Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 14th April 2026 at 22: 43 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: John Mousinho Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Kieran Mc Kenna Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: John Mousinho Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Kieran Mc Kenna Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Championship All competitions All competitions All competitions Portsmouth are winless in each of their last five league games against Ipswich Town (D2 L3), since a 2-1 home win in League One in March 2021. Ipswich won 2-1 at Portman Road in the reverse fixture with Portsmouth in September this season, and could now complete a league double over Pompey for the first time 2011-12 under Paul Jewell.   Portsmouth are winless in each of their last nine midweek Championship games (Tue/Wed/Thu - D3 L6), since beating Cardiff City 2-1 in February 2025 – Pompey have failed to score in four of their last five midweek games.   Ipswich Town have won only one of their last six Championship away games (D2 L3), and could lose back-to-back league matches on the road outside of the Premier League for the first time since December 2021 in League One.    Portsmouth’s Colby Bishop has scored more goals in the Football League against Ipswich Town than any other opponent (6 goals – 3 for Accrington Stanley, 3 for Pompey).      Match ends, Portsmouth 2, Ipswich Town 0. Second Half ends, Portsmouth 2, Ipswich Town 0. Foul by Jacob Greaves (Ipswich Town). Keshi Anderson (Portsmouth) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Attempt blocked. Chuba Akpom (Ipswich Town) header from very close range is blocked. Assisted by Sindre Egeli with a cross. Substitution, Portsmouth. Ibane Bowat replaces Millenic Alli. Corner, Ipswich Town. Conceded by Nicolas Schmid. Attempt saved. Jaden Philogene (Ipswich Town) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top right corner by Nicolas Schmid (Portsmouth). Attempt blocked. Dara O'Shea (Ipswich Town) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Anis Mehmeti with a cross. Corner, Ipswich Town. Conceded by Regan Poole. Jaden Philogene (Ipswich Town) is shown the yellow card. Fourth official has announced 4 minutes of added time. Attempt missed. George Hirst (Ipswich Town) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Dara O'Shea with a cross. Substitution, Portsmouth. Jacob Brown replaces Adrian Segecic. Terry Devlin (Portsmouth) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Jaden Philogene (Ipswich Town) wins a free kick on the left wing. Foul by Terry Devlin (Portsmouth). Offside, Portsmouth. Millenic Alli is caught offside. Marcelino Núñez (Ipswich Town) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Foul by Marcelino Núñez (Ipswich Town). Copyright © 2026 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.