Andre Dozzell's goal at Oxford United was his first for Portsmouth since joining them last summer
Portsmouth ended their 12-match winless run away from home by overcoming Oxford United in a match that was stopped for more than 30 minutes because of a medical emergency in the crowd.
Concern for the spectator in the North Stand dominated the attention of many at the Kassam Stadium in a first half that failed to produce a significant chance to break the deadlock.
Andre Dozzell gave Pompey the ideal start to the second-half, punishing the hosts for failing to clear a corner with a tap-in finish.
Goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid made a fine save to deny Oxford's Przemyslaw Placheta, and Matt Phillips squandered a headed chance for the hosts before Mark O'Mahony completed Pompey's first victory away from Fratton Park for four months to move them seven points clear of the relegation places.
Everyone at the ground joined in applause in the 11th minute in honour of Oxford great Joey Beauchamp, who passed away three years ago.
Both sets of players also paused on the pitch, as a free-kick was about to be taken when the tribute took place.
But the emergency in the North Stand at the same time meant the action was suspended at that point.
Before the match got back under way, Oxford confirmed the spectator was still receiving medical care and would be transferred to hospital by ambulance.
A mix-up with the timekeeping during the delay, an injury to Oxford's Greg Leigh and a clash of heads between Portsmouth's Zak Swanson and Siriki Dembele for the hosts meant there was more than 10 minutes of stoppage time at the end of the first half.
A goalmouth scramble soon after the restart allowed Dozzell to pounce for the opener which set Portsmouth up for their first win on the road since October, and ended an eight-game losing run away from home across all competitions.
Schmid's save to keep Placheta out, after he met an excellent cross from Ole Romeny at the back post, was crucial against an Oxford side that also threatened late on through Stanley Mills and Phillips.
The victory was assured by O'Mahony after he raced onto Terry Devlin's header forward in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
'Final pass wasn't quite there' - reaction
Oxford United boss Gary Rowett told BBC Radio Oxford:
"My immediate thoughts are for the supporter who needed the attention. Hopefully he's ok. As a flip side to that, when that happens and the players have to go off the pitch, it becomes a bit of a fractured first half and difficult to create any rhythm or continuity within that.
"Our performance was a little bit too rigid first half, we needed to play with a little bit more freedom in certain areas.
"I thought we got into some really good positions but it's that final pass – it's been creeping in for the last three or four games – to get someone into a goalscoring position just hasn't quite been there.
"We conceded a very poor goal from a set-piece with bodies in the box and we don't deal with, then we had three clear cut chances and should score all three, let alone at least one, and we chase the game at the end and leave ourselves open."
Portsmouth manager John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent:
"To come out of the week with six points – it could have been more, could have been nine – is a brilliant return and we've just got to keep going.
"It was difficult for both sides [with the game being delayed], we dealt with it really well at the Middlesbrough game, but that was at the start – they were different circumstances here because we'd played 12 minutes and after that we dropped off a little bit, we didn't adjust to the stoppage well.
"I've been joking with Dozz about his goalscoring record - I think I might have more than him this season - but he is very good technically, he's been excellent for the past couple of weeks and today I thought he was outstanding.
"Coming here now [to my former club], it's business as usual, you've got to take the emotion out of it, it's an away victory for us, and that's the most important thing regardless of where it is."
