Cardiff City 0-3 Portsmouth: Piggott, Curtis, Bishop give League One side EFL Cup win

Portsmouth, now a division below Cardiff, beat the Bluebirds in the 2008 FA Cup final

League One side Portsmouth produced a clinical second-half display to win at Championship Cardiff City and progress to the second round of the EFL Cup.

Despite enjoying almost total control of possession, Cardiff created few chances in a goalless first half.

Joe Piggott seized on a Curtis Nelson mistake to fire Pompey in front.

Nelson then fouled Michael Morrison at a corner to conceded a penalty, which Ronan Curtis converted emphatically before Colby Bishop headed in a third.

To make matters worse for Cardiff, debutant Vontae Campbell was shown a red card in the 90th minute and the home side were booed off by their fans at the final whistle.

By contrast, Portsmouth's noisy travelling supporters celebrated each goal with great glee and, with with large parts of the Cardiff City Stadium closed, this often felt like a home game for Pompey.

Danny Cowley's men were ruthless in the final half an hour, bringing to life what had been a meandering encounter between two much-changed teams in front of a sparse crowd.

The lack of intensity bred moments of sloppiness from Cardiff, whose dithering on the ball in defensive positions almost saw them fall behind after a minute as midfielder Eli King was caught in possession by Piggott, whose shot was palmed away back Jak Alnwick.

That sequence was typical of a messy first half, with the home side's 10 changes and Portsmouth's six contributing to a disjointed affair.

Cardiff were still able to create some opportunities, often thanks to the trickery and swift movement of winger Jaden Philogene, making his first start since joining on loan from Aston Villa.

He played the pass to Mark Harris for the best chance of the half but the Wales forward's low shot was superbly blocked by Portsmouth captain and centre-back Sean Raggett.

Cardiff had as much as 80% possession in the first half but they were punished for their inability to do anything useful with it when Piggott put Portsmouth ahead.

Nelson sold Campbell short with a header, allowing Ronan Curtis to steal in and feed Piggott, whose low shot bobbled in off the post to spark jubilant scenes in the away end.

Nelson, who had conceded a penalty during Saturday's Championship defeat at Reading, then gave away another spot-kick for pulling substitute Morrison down, and Curtis hammered home from 12 yards.

Four minutes later, Portsmouth had a third goal as another substitute, Bishop, headed in at the back post from a corner.

Having been forced on to the back foot for long periods of this match, Pompey enjoyed every second of their second-half dominance whereas Cardiff's evening to forget served up one final ignominy as Campbell was sent off for a lunging foul on Joe Rafferty.

Cardiff manager Steve Morison: "I'm at a loss at the minute. Such poor goals, just clear the ball, just defend properly.

"You've been given an opportunity to try and get yourself selected for Saturday [against Birmingham in the Championship] and no-one chose to do it.

"It's tough to take a positive out of tonight."

Portsmouth manager Danny Cowley: "It was a good night for us, to make that amount of changes when you come to a Championship club, keep a clean sheet and to win.

"Five players who started were 21 or under, which bodes really well for the future of the club. They earned our trust and the senior players supported them really well.

"We defended well from the front from the beginning, we also when needed put our bodies on the line… tonight was a step in the right direction and we understand we're a work in progress."