Report by Ben Davis

The biggest cheer of the night from the Pompey fans was when Steve Claridge came off the bench in the second half in a blue shirt. It's been a long wait and Claridge may be starting first team football sooner than he had expected. New Greek signing Nikos Kyzeridis could be out for about three weeks with a bruised knee after the plymouth defenders tried to kick him out of the game.
Adrian Whitbread was back as he replaced Thomas Thorgersen with Vlachos moving into midfield. Robbie Pethick took Thorgersen's place at right wing-back. Alan Ball was allowed to name five substitutes of which three were usable.
The opening few minutes were scrappy with neither side getting their passing game together. Plymouth though were threating down the left through Hargreaves giving Pethick problems and the muscular prescence of McCarthy was keeping the Pompey defence busy.
Plymouth's eventual pressure paid off in the 20th minute when they took the lead. Barlow had time to measure a cross from the right and Mccarthy met in the middle with a side foot volley which flew into the floor of the net past Flahavan.
Pompey attempted to reply quickly when the tricky Kyzeridis set up Aloisi whose effort was deflected by Sheffield and then cleared off the line. The in-form Australian was in action again when his back-header was flicked over by Sheffield.
Three minutes later in the 36th minute Aloisi was brought down in the box for a penalty after Kyzeridis's inch perfect pass. After missing penalties in pre-season Mcloughlin showed that he was brave by stepping up and scoring high into the net.
That suddenly got the confidence flowing and four minutes later Pompey were in the lead. Pethick chipped great ball to Durnin in the area who in turn crossed it to the far post where Vlachos stabbed the ball home for his first goal for the club.
Pompey weren't finished there as a minute into stoppage time they scored again. McLoughlin slipped a neat ball through to Aloisi who cooly slotted it past Sheffield. It was an excellent finish to the half after a slighty nervos opening. The scare of the half came shortly before the third goal when Flahavan fell awkwardly and had to be replace be Knight in goal.
The opening stages of the second half were similar to that of the first with both teams struggling to get going. Pompey had clearly stepped down a gear after their 10-minute goal spree whilst Plymouth lacked the spirit to carry on.
In the 64th minute the Pompey fans got what they really wanted, the appearance of one Steve Claridge. After failing to sign him last season on deadline day it seemed Pompey would never get their man until now. He replaced Durnin in attack.
The Portsmouth born player took a while to settle in but in the 75th minute he latched onto Aloisi's pass only to be brought down by Sheffield in the area. Amazingly referee Roger Furnandiz waved play on and didn't even book Claridge for diving.
Ten minutes later Claridge had an even better chance to score when Pompey hit their hosts on the break. Aloisi was again the provider to find Claridge in oceans of space with only Sheffield in front of him but the attempted chip dipped just over the bar. Another of Pompey's new signing's Steve Soley then replaced Vlachos who appeared to have hurt his ankle.
The Pompey players were then angry when Collins crudely brought down Kyzeridis. Collins was yellow carded as the Greek was stretchered off meaning Pompey had to play the last few minutes with only ten men. Plymouth could make anything of the numerical advantage as Pompey sealed a confortatble 1st leg win. Hopefully there will be no repeat of last season's embarrassing defeat by Peterborough in the same round.