A WEEK dominated by talk of broken bones and broken friendships had strewn much debris across Blackburn's preparations for this game so, boy, did they need someone to sweep it up quick.

Step forward Lucas Neill of all people. Australians aren't the type to shy away from the spotlight, but even he might have thought it a good idea to keep a low profile in the wake of last week's tackle. You know the one.

True to his word, Neill was always going to be as robust as ever on the south coast on Saturday and didn't pull out of challenges for fear of more adverse press. Good thing, too, given the resilience Rovers needed at the back in a nerve-jangling second half.

But what on earth was Neill doing eight yards from the Portsmouth goal as early as the 34th minute? His reputation may have been fragile over the past week, but becoming a dangerous attacking defender would surely leave it in ruins? After all, his goals are about as rare as complimentary words about Southampton on the Fratton Park terraces.

Neill probably couldn't believe his luck when the ball broke to him during a penalty box scramble but he swung his left leg and gleefully whacked the ball past Shaka Hislop.

It didn't just draw a line under the past week's events. Neill furiously scribbled them out, screwed them up and tossed them in the bin.

Whatever you think about his horror tackle that put Carragher out for six months - there are some who felt he shouldn't even be allowed on a pitch until the Liverpool left back has made a full recovery - you can't argue that Neill provided the perfect response to his more hysterical critics over the past week.

The whole Carragher incident was, of course, no laughing matter, but football can be a funny old game like that sometimes.

But what was also admirable about Neill's performance was the way he got stuck in and refused to compromise the type of solid tackling foundations on which his game has been built.

And at the end of a week in which few have defended his reckless actions, he certainly had plenty of support on show here.

Markus Babbel and Lorenzo Amrouso were equally stingy at the back, and for all of Portsmouth's possession and pressure - in the corner count they recovered from a half-time 4-0 deficit to sneak it 7-6 - the three points always looked secure.

Babbel and Sheringham have been through a lot since they locked horns in the Euro 96 semi-final, but while the German looks to be accelerating down the road to recovery, Sheringham's career is fast slamming on the brakes.

Okay, he may have been the Premiership's joint leading scorer going into this game but he just didn't live up to the billing he was given prior to kick-off when the Premiership new boys bestowed their August Player of the Month award on him.

Unfortunately for Teddy, while the weather obviously still felt summer was in full swing, he couldn't revive any of last month's memories as he ran into a dark, wintry alley on this particular afternoon. Or to put it another way, Babbel and Amoruso just didn't give him a kick.

The main reason that such diligent defending was the order of the day in the second half was because of Arjan De Zeeuw's 57th minute header that gave Pompey a glimmer of hope of preserving their unlikely unbeaten record.

But the reality was that Neill's strike, coupled with another first half goal that put Andy Cole alongside Sheringham in the scoring charts, gave the overall outcome its deserved result.

A couple of long range efforts that Shaka Hislop dealt with well were the only times either side threatened to score until Neill's big moment arrived.

Blackburn had started to set up camp in the Portsmouth half at this stage and, with Emerton, Cole and David Thompson buzzing around the edge of the box the final sting in the tail was poised to lash out.

It came when Tugay took a quick free-kick which Cole collected on the left side of the area. Following some trickery, his dangerous low cross was cleared off the line by Boris Zivkovic and in the ensuing chaos, Babbel nodded the ball down for Neill to score.

Just nine minutes later, a more familiar name was on the scoresheet when Cole conjured up the second from nothing. The striker had his back to both the goal and De Zeeuw, but he turned the Dutch defender inside out, ghosted past him and was left one-on-one with Hislop.

Cole being Cole, when the goals are going in chances like this are easy and he demonstrated his current confidence by sweeping the ball past his former Newcastle team-mate.

Pumped-up Pompey then sensed they could squeeze in a counter strike before the break. Firstly, Friedel's heart was in his mouth when Yakubu went flying under his challenge, but Paul Durkin rightly ruled corner. Then Sheringham had a volleying chance but he feebly scuffed it.

Portsmouth's first shot on target, from Amdy Faye, took 52 minutes to arrive, but it was only five minutes later that De Zeeuw met Steve Stone's corner and powered a header into the roof of the net.

On a day when defenders had an appetite for goals, De Zeeuw almost satisfied his hunger 10 minutes later when Friedel flapped at a deflected corner, but this time De Zeeuw had to rely on his feet and fired over.

Then only some half-hearted penalty appeals seemed likely to transform the scoreline to 2-2, and Emerton's shot that rattled the underside of the bar meant it was closer to being 3-1.

However, it was another Aussie who hogged the headline space for another weekend, although when the ball flew off his chest in the 10th minute it looked like, once again, it would be for the wrong reasons.

But when Friedel gathered the ball safely on his line you got the feeling Neill's nightmare was about to end.

PORTSMOUTH ...1

De Zeeuw 57

ROVERS... 2

Neill 34, Cole 43

Fratton Park Att: 20,024