Twelve goals in three home games - and the best goal difference in League Two. Those are just two things Pompey can boast after they battered the Bees of Barnet 5-1 at a buzzing Fratton Park.

Conor Chaplin cancelled out a Barnet penalty before Gary Roberts, Carl Baker, Milan Lalkovic and Danny Rose made sure of the points after the break.

It put Pompey back up to second place, just two points behind leaders Plymouth, and banished the memory of their loss at Accrington last week. Now we'll see if they can build on it at Blackpool in midweek.

Pompey looked bright and had the better of the opening 25 minutes but fell behind to a penalty on 27, given harshly for an apparent handball by Tom Davies as he headed clear a cross - when most thought he had used his head.

John Akinde's penalty was a laid-back effort but had just enough to beat David Forde.

It only took Pompey seven minutes to level, when Roberts' close control earned him the space to slide a pass through to Chaplin, who justified Paul Cook's popular decision to give him a start when he finished from a tight angle.

That settled Pompey's nerves and they ran away with it in the second half.

Roberts put them ahead five minutes into the second half with another great piece of skill to bamboozle his marker, before taking his time to slot past the keeper.

Baker cut in from the right and sent a shot low and just inside the far post six minutes later for 3-1.

Bira Dembele was sent off for a foul in the box on Chaplin that earned a penalty - but Roberts' kick was well saved.

That hardly stopped Pompey in their tracks though and sub Lalkovic made it four just five minutes after coming on, and Rose followed him in grabbing his first Blues goal by running on to a pass to slide a shot under Josh Vickers.

It was a great afternoon's work for Pompey, who seem to have left last season's struggles to break down teams at home well behind them.

Cook told The News: ‘We had a good day today, but we just have to move on. We were terrific, had some good performances and scored some top-drawer goals. I’m building a team to pass and move the ball and we did that well.'

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