Redknapp & Not Arf Krapp
The first visit of Pompey to St Mary's came on 2nd December 2003 in the Carling Cup and it would be remembered for all the wrong reasons, firstly a pre match arranged fight at the Joiner's pub saw mass disorder in St Mary's street and secondly the disgraceful behaviour of a small but significant minority of Pompey fans during a one minute silence for Ted Bates.
In truth it was a small contingent who abused Ted Bates, it also sounded worse because many Pompey supporters tried to quieten them, remembering the respect that Saints fans had shown when their goalkeeper Aaron Flahavan had been killed in a car crash, the referee cut it short and you felt that Saints would extract their revenge on the pitch.
They did with James Beattie giving Saints the lead just after the half hour and from then on Saints had the game tied up but it would be an injury time penalty that gave Saints the two goal cushion that the home sides superiority deserved.
The first ever Premier fixture between the clubs came nineteen days later and this time Saints would hammer home their superiority winning 3-0, Pompey's keeper Schemmel opened the scoring for Saints off his head when a Jason Dodd cross hit the bar and hit the keeper on the head, Marian Pahars made it two with a sublime strike after the hour mark and an injury time Beattie goal again made sure the goal reflected Saints dominance.
The return in March 2004 saw Pompey struggling against relegation, Saints should have got at least a draw but the luck was with Pompey and they won it 1-0 through Yakubu with 20 mins to go, in the final minutes Kevin Phillips hit the post and it was Pompey's day, Saints fans took over 1 1/2 hours to get back to the staion as Police battled with Pompey fans who as is traditional wrecked their own City.
The following year was a bad one in Saints history, relegation and the start of freefall, however it still included two wins against the Skates, the first in the league came in November 2004, when Saints retreived a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1 at St Mary's through Dexter Blackstock & Kevin Phillips, the next game in the FA Cup 4th round saw the same score at the same venue, Matt Oakley scoring and Saints at 1-1 deep into injury time till a cross was handled in the penalty box and ex and future Skate Crouch tucking it away to send the home fans delirious.
The last meeting of the two clubs came at Fratton on 24th April 2005, many Saints fans missed the opening goals as Police battled to get them to the ground as many Pompey fans preferred to attack the visitors rether than watch the game, Saints were 2-0 down after 17 mins and although Henri Camara pulled one back on 20 mins. it was 4-1 before the half hour.
Strangely that was the end of the scoring although Saints never looked like getting back in it, a bad day at the office for most of the players, including Antti Niemi who reserved just about his only poor perfomance for Saints for this game.
The traditional wrecking of bus stops took place after the game.