Report by Ben Davis

All Pompey needed was a win to guarantee safety and they did that in style. Despite having nothing to play for Bradford still made a game of it which put more shine on Pompey's impressive performance. The news that Pompey had won did not go down well in the city of Stoke where Stoke City and Manchester City were both relegated as a result. Nearly 4,000 fans made their way up from the South Coast and once again gave their full backing in this crucial game.
Adrian Whitbread was forced out by a knee injury so youngster David Waterman came in to central defence with Awford taking over as captain. John Aloisi was back from suspension but had to settle for a place on the subs bench with Svensson and Durnin continuing in attack.
Pompey started well with Igoe and Durnin causing the Bradford defenders problems and the fans sensed that the home side were going to take it easy for the rest of the game. How wrong they were. If it wasn't for the frame of Flahavan's goal Pompey's task would have been much harder. In the 10th minute Vlachos fouled 17 year-old Gareth Grant 30-yards out. Pepper fired in a great effort which cannoned off the cross-bar and fell down to Ramage who somehow managed to hit the post from the rebound. Flahavan gathered that and immediately there were chants of 'we are staying up' by the Pompey fans behind the goal who believed luck was on their side.
That chance was all Bradford got in the first half as they wasted numerous opportunities to go forward. At the other end though the signs were encouraging with Pompey putting Bradford under sustained spells of pressure. Robinson perhaps should have done better when he darted from the far post to the near to meet a Pethick cross which he diverted wide of Walsh's goal.
Three minutes later, in the 21st minute, the bar rescued Bradford. Hillier chipped a partly cleared corner back in the box where Svensson crashed a volley against the bar and Durnin's follow up was brilliantly saved by Walsh. The news that Man City had scored brought even more tension to the Pompey fans who for once were a little quiet.
With Bradford getting back into the game the fans began to wonder where a goal was going to come from. The answer to that arrived in the 35th minute. Pethick cleared a poor Bradford corner to Vlachos who in turn found Igoe. The little midfielder ran out of room just inside Bradford's half and lost possession to McAnespie, but Igoe put him under pressure and forced a backpass which brought about the goal. Walsh saw Igoe surging towards him and for a split second took his eye off the ball, totally mis-kicked and gifting possession to the midfielder. Despite being brought down by Walsh, Igoe knocked the ball to Durnin who tapped home to send the visiting fans into ecstasy.
For Bradford caretaker boss Paul Jewell things were going totally wrong as his performance as manager was being reviewed in a couple of days, so another defeat would have surely finished his chances of being the manager permanently. Indeed his half-time talk seemed to have got through to his players as Bradford put Pompey under some intense pressure for the first 15 minutes of the half.
Aaron Flahavan though was Pompey's saviour as he constantly denied the home side the equaliser they wanted. In the 54th minute he amazingly used his legs to keep out Bolland's shot from 6-yards out after Pompey had failed to clear a corner. He then leapt into the air to tipped over Edinho's fine long-range effort.
Pompey weathered the storm and went very close to scoring a second in the 58th minute. David Hillier decided to adopt a shoot on sight policy and his 30-yard effort flew off the underside of the bar and away to safety to the frustration of the travelling army. Andy Awford though had to make the tackle of his life when he prevented Bradford's Steiner racing through on goal after Robinson's mistake.
Robinson pushed forward in the 65th minute and his persistence resulted in a crucial second goal. McAnespie made a hash of a bouncing ball on the left which allowed Robinson to charge forward into the area where he pulled the ball back for Igoe to smash a great shot past Walsh. Pompey knew they were nearly there, another goal would surely settle it.
The Bradford players looked down and Pompey capitalised in the 74th minute with that clinching third goal. That man Igoe battled away down the right laying the ball back to Pethick whose fine cross was headed in by Durnin. The celebrations had begun, even the home fans joined in the chanting of 'are you watching Manchester'. The fans at Stoke's Britannia Stadium were in shock as both teams were certain to be relegated.
Pompey now began to sit back and that allowed Bradford to get a consolation goal. Jacobs cross from the left caused confusion in the box where Awford knocked the ball across Flahavan leaving Ramage to score with a simple headed goal from a yard out. No game between these two sides is complete without a red card and sure enough one was awarded late on. Although Pethick fouled Pepper the Bradford player reacted stupidly and lashed out at the Pompey man. Unlike the crowd the referee clearly saw it and sent Pepper off.
The final whistle went and saw the Pompey fans stream onto the field to celebrate with the players. Star man Sammy Igoe was held aloft by the crowd as Vlachos lost his entire kit bar his jockstrap. Alan Ball has done a great job since he arrived and if it wasn't for him Pompey would have probably been in division two.