Portsmouth 2-0 Cardiff City: Shaughnessy and Milovanović score either side of half-time at Fratton Park

Cardiff City had 64 per cent of the ball at Fratton Park, took 16 shots to Portsmouth's 15, 13 of those inside the box, and lost 2-0 without scoring. Portsmouth needed a long throw and a cross. The first came just after the half hour, defender Conor Shaughnessy rising highest to meet Tyrese Shade's long throw on 31 minutes and heading Portsmouth in front. The second came seven minutes into the second half: Ollie Tanner headed into the side netting at one end, Portsmouth went straight up the other, and Marko Milovanović finished Adrian Segečić's cross on 52 minutes. Cardiff City had begun as though the afternoon would run the other way. Inside three minutes Krystian Bielik headed Joel Bagan's free kick inches wide, and four minutes later Alex Robertson, a former Portsmouth loanee, had a shot saved. Nathan Trott then dived to keep out Shade on 17 minutes, and Portsmouth took control from there.

Cardiff City kept coming after the second goal and kept not finishing. Tanner, Chris Willock, Yousef Salech and Bagan all had efforts go close. Portsmouth nearly had a third twice over: Milovanović headed in a Meghoma cross just past the hour and was ruled marginally offside, and Abu Kamara cut in from the right and hit the woodwork. Brian Barry-Murphy, Cardiff City's head coach, had made three changes from Wednesday's defeat at QPR, Bielik, Willock and David Turnbull in for Rubin Colwill, Cian Ashford and Calum Scanlon, and went back to the bench just after the hour, Joel Colwill for Turnbull on 63 and Rubin Colwill for Willock on 64. All four yellow cards shown at Fratton Park went to a Cardiff City player: Bielik on nine minutes, Tanner on 60, Robertson on 86 and Salech in the second minute of stoppage time. The fourth official's board showed seven added minutes and the half ran to 90+11, and Perry Ng, Jack Moylan and Rubin Colwill all shot in that time. The crowd was 20,459, with 2,184 of it from Cardiff.

The incident in the 72nd minute

With Portsmouth two up, Krystian Bielik went to the stand to retrieve a ball for a throw in and was involved in an altercation with a home supporter. Brian Barry-Murphy said afterwards that Bielik "got slapped in the face". BBC Sport reports that clips circulating on social media appeared to show Bielik grabbing a young supporter around the upper body, and that Portsmouth supporters nearby made gestures indicating that those supporters believed the supporter had been grabbed around the throat. A second supporter then threw a ball at Perry Ng's head. Both supporters were ejected. No player was booked over it. John Mousinho, the Portsmouth head coach, apologised to the Cardiff City players: "It wasn't a good incident. I have just seen him there, and he was OK, but that's not the point, we can't be having that. We want to create a really difficult atmosphere at Fratton Park, we have done that successfully over the past few years. Sometimes it tips over, I understand that, I don't think it needs to tip over to that extent. We extend our apologies to the players, Cardiff and make sure we can try to cut it out." Barry-Murphy called it "not acceptable" and said the referee and his staff "handled the incident impeccably". Mousinho also said the referee had told him that, as Bielik went for the ball, "there was a little bit of a kerfuffle and one of the supporters struck him". The Football Association is aware and will review the referee's match report before deciding whether to act. Hampshire Police said on Sunday: "We can confirm that we are investigating an incident in which a teenage boy was reportedly the victim of a common assault during the football match at Fratton Park. Our enquiries are ongoing." The force was notified during the match. Portsmouth published a statement on Sunday calling it a safeguarding matter under investigation by both the club and the police, saying it would be inappropriate to comment further, and urging caution against speculation while enquiries are ongoing. Cardiff City said: "We are satisfied with the way that match officials dealt with the situation during the game, having been in full view of it. Player protection will always be of paramount importance to us." Nobody has been arrested or charged.

The managers on the performance

Brian Barry-Murphy gave his verdict to the press afterwards, published on Cardiff City's own site, three days after the QPR defeat. "It's been a disappointing week, naturally, when you lose two games in close succession," he said. He put the first half on what Cardiff City gave away. "We started off the game really well. I thought we were going to score, but didn't. And then we just gave the ball away too much. Obviously, you could see it on Wednesday, the same here; if you give the ball away in any division you're vulnerable to the counter attack, and that was the case." On the goal that settled it, he saw Wednesday again. "The goal we gave away after half time, again was at a similar time to Wednesday night, and that just took away any momentum we were building. We created enough chances to get back in the game, but didn't take them." John Mousinho gave his verdict on the game itself to Sky Sports. "I'm delighted with the result. It was completely different to the other performances, we didn't necessarily have a huge amount of control in the game, but I thought the first half was pretty good," the Portsmouth head coach said. He put the closing half hour on the breaks in play. "Thankfully for us, after we got the second goal, the game broke up a bit as there were quite a few stoppages which probably helped us just to kill the game off."

The table after Saturday's full programme has Portsmouth 14th on six points, two wins and three defeats, with Swansea City top of the Championship on 11. Cardiff City are 22nd of 24 on three points, three draws and two defeats, six scored and nine conceded. Cardiff City are not the division's only club still without a win, and Cover has said otherwise twice. Its QPR full time report of 2 September still called Cardiff City "the only Championship side yet to win and yet to lose twice", which this defeat ends, and that record is corrected today: Burnley are 24th on two points from two draws and three defeats, and only those two clubs are still without one. Cardiff City have now gone 13 second tier games without a win. BBC Sport and the EFL both put the run at 12 before kick-off; this defeat is the 13th. Both sides put five shots on target: Portsmouth scored twice from theirs, and Cardiff City's five were all saved. Stoke City come to Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday, then Bolton away on 12 September, Charlton at home on 19 September and Blackburn away on 10 October.

Correction, 6 September 2026: an earlier version of this report gave Cardiff City 17 shots, in the standfirst and the opening line. The provider revised the figure to 16 in a later fetch, the panel and the ladder carry 16, and the figure is now 16 throughout.

Correction, 6 September 2026, revised the same day: this report first said the referee added more than ten minutes and timed both Colwill substitutions at 64, and a correction then put both at 63 and the added time at seven. Neither was right. The fourth official's board showed seven minutes and the half ran to 90+11; Turnbull came off on 63 and Willock on 64.

Updated, 6 September 2026: this report is updated with Hampshire Police confirming an investigation, Portsmouth's safeguarding statement and Cardiff City's statement, none of which existed when it was first published.