Sorba Thomas enjoys the moment after his cross was headed into his own net by Hayden Matthews
An own goal by Portsmouth defender Hayden Matthews gave Stoke City their first away win in over two months to keep them in the Championship play-off places.
The Potters have flagged lately after a good start to the season but Matthews' misfortune, created by an excellent Sorba Thomas cross, gave them only their second league win in the last seven games.
Pompey were too passive in the first half as Mark Robins' visitors bossed a scrappy affair, but improved after the break as Makenzie Kirk twice went close to scoring in his first league start for the club.
Defeat leaves John Mousinho's team on a run of just one win in their last eight league games.
It also means consecutive losses at Fratton Park after leaders Coventry City won there in midweek, and the manager will be disappointed at his side's failure to show a reaction in the opening 45 minutes.
Stoke were always the more likely to score in that half as Ashley Phillips and Divin Mubama both saw headed chances go wide, and then Mubama fluffed the best chance of the lot when slack defence allowed Ben Wilmot's long ball to curve into his path on the edge of the box.
Mubama again got in behind the defence in added time and when his shot was parried, Million Manhoef could only volley the rebound over the bar.
Pompey showed far more intent after the break - indeed, their first real attack saw more shots on goal than they had in the entire first half as Stoke goalkeeper Viktor Johansson blocked Kirk's header, Colby Bishop's follow-up was blocked and Connor Ogilvie shot over the bar when the ball fell to him on the edge of the box.
Both sides went close as the game opened up, Phillips again headed narrowly wide for Stoke and then Kirk's close-range volley flashed straight at Johansson at the other end.
The winning goal was, inevitably, crafted by Thomas, who cut the ball on to his right foot on the left wing and delivered a pacy cross which Matthews had to deal with, only for the ball to glance off his head and beyond Joe Bursik in goal.
Pompey pushed for an equaliser but Stoke dealt with everything they could muster to record their first win on their travels since 23 August.
'I thought we were really good' - Reaction
Robins: ‘I'm delighted with the character we showed’
Stoke City manager Mark Robins told BBC Radio Stoke:
"The performance was good enough, first half especially, I thought we were really good and should have been 2-0 up.
"We didn't take those chances and gave the opposition the encouragement to remain in the game when we should have put it to bed.
"They smelt that and came out in the second half to put us under a lot of pressure to start with, but we also put ourselves under pressure with a lot of strange decisions, but had a brilliant goalkeeper who made a great save.
"When we needed to, we defended properly and saw the game out."
Portsmouth manager John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent:
"The first half was poor. We took 45 minutes to get going, but it was a much-improved performance in the second half, when we were by far the better side but didn't put the ball in the back of the net.
"It was a poor piece of defending to concede the goal and, after that, we didn't make good enough decisions and stopped doing the things that had made us a good side in the second half.
"With the level of performance and the amount of chances we created, we definitely should have won the game."
John Mousinho: 'We took 45 minutes to get going'
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