Pompey cranked up the pressure on the side who occupy the prized third place they want for themselves by thumping Carlisle 3-0 on their own patch.
Late goals by Gary Roberts, Amine Linganzi and Jack Whatmough sealed a priceless win against Keith Curle's side - no more than a dominant second-half display deserved.
It puts Paul Cook's team up to fourth, three points behind Carlisle with a game in hand ahead of a week which brings home matches against Morecambe and Crewe.
With Carl Baker back in the side in place of Jamal Lowe, ex-Blues target Jamie Proctor had an early effort for Carlisle ruled out for a clear offside while Baker had Pompey's first effort at goal.
David Forde was kept busy as United did their share of attacking in the first half but for long periods there was little real quality in either final third.
Carlisle lost both their central defenders to injury before the break while both sides had chances for an interval. The home side thought they should have had a penalty, while Eoin Doyle was close to touching in a cross at the other end.
The Blues (on this occasion in black) came flying out of the blocks in the second half and had two or three good chances to take an early second half lead. Doyle did have the ball in the net but was judged offside.
Conor Chaplin and Jack Whatmough came on with 18 minutes left as Pompey went 3-5-2 and it paid off within three minutes as Gary Roberts drove through the middle before chipping a delightful finish from just inside the area over Mark Gillespie.
Roberts was replaced by Kal Naismith shortly before Linganzi worked himself space 25 yards for a low drive that flew into the bottom corner to make the points safe.
In stoppage time Whatmough somwhow found himself in the box and when his low ball from the right came back to him he sent an instinctive low first-time shot past Gillespie to put the icing on the cake for Pompey and their impressive number of 1,200 travelling fans.
The other good news came after the whistle, when Pompey found they'd been the only side in the top six to win.
Pompey: Forde; Evans, Burgess, Clarke, Stevens; Linganzi, M.Doyle; Baker (Whatmough 72), Roberts (Naismith 80), Bennett (Chaplin 72); E.Doyle. Subs not used: O’Brien, Rose, Lowe, Hunt.
Referee: Richard Clark
Attendance: 7,197 (1,209 Pompey fans)
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