Robert Green's spectacular added-time penalty save from Benjani Mwaruwari earned West Ham United a gritty goalless draw at murky Fratton Park.
The result leaves the visitors still looking for their first Premier League victory over Harry Redknapp's side but they head back to the Boleyn Ground knowing that on anther day they could have beaten sixth-placed Portsmouth. Nolberto Solano twice spurned good chances to score, the second after the excellent Carlton Cole had rapped the crossbar with a fierce drive.
In a run stretching back over six matches, tenth-placed West Ham United had arrived on the south coast looking for their first top-flight win at Portsmouth since December 1958. Last Sunday's triumph against Sunderland had boosted confidence and Alan Curbishley stuck with the chief catalysts as Nolberto Solano and Luis Boa Morte started wide ahead of the injured Lee Bowyer and Matthew Etherington, who dropped to the bench.
Both sides began with five-man midfields as strikers Cole and seven-goal Benjani Mwaruwari each went it alone up front. It was Portsmouth who started brighter and they almost took an eighth-minute lead, when Niko Kranjcar called upon Green to produce a fine save as he palmed over the Croatian's goalbound 20-yarder.
Seconds later, Pedro Mendes, in for the suspended Sean Davis, shot inches wide from similar range and then both Sulley Muntari and Benjani went close, too. Having weathered that storm, it was the visitors' turn to threaten former Boleyn Ground goalkeeper David James and, after Mark Noble scooped over from 25 yards on 20 minutes, Solano somehow failed to connect with Cole's cross to the far post.
As the half-hour mark approached, a dispute between Bellamy and Hermann Hreidarsson resulted in a double-booking. Once the action had resumed, Cole nearly capitalised on a defensive mix-up before Kranjcar rounded Green but fired into the side-netting from a tight angle. Solano had another opportunity to score just before the interval but James held on to his second free-kick of the half.
With Craig Bellamy off at half-time with an abdominal strain, Etherington entered the fray and his appearance on the left saw Boa Morte move to the right. Solano and Kranjcar were then both denied from free-kicks at either end before Green produced a superb aerial parry to thwart Benjani's stinging 15-yard snap-shot.
Midway through the second period, the best move of the afternoon almost broke the deadlock, when the overlapping George McCartney returned the ball to Etherington, who, in turn, neatly threaded it to Cole. The striker brilliantly turned Campbell on the edge of the six-yard box before uncorking a rising shot that crashed down off the beaten James' crossbar, only for the sprawling Solano to send his diving header wide of the unguarded goal.
And as play continued to switch from end-to-end, Solano's agony was compounded shortly afterwards when joined Bellamy and Noble in the book for upending the escaping Sylvain Distin before stepping down in favour of Jonathan Spector. Kanu also emerged from the bench for Pompey and, in the dying minutes, Cole became the fourth Hammer to be booked for dissent, before being replaced by Anton Ferdinand in stoppage time.
But there was still time for some late drama when the ball unluckily bounced up on to Danny Gabbidon's sleeve as he jockeyed Kranjcar on the edge of the area and the Portsmouth fans amongst the 20,525 crowd danced with delight as referee Dean pointed to the spot. But that man Green - and the voiciferous Hammers fans behind his goal - had the last word when he dived low to his left to deny Benjani and secure a deserved point.
Portsmouth: James, Johnson, Campbell (c), Distin, Hreidarsson, Muntari, Mendes, Bouba Diop, Utaka (Kanu 76), Kranjcar, Benjani
Subs not used: Ashdown, Lauren, Pamarot, Taylor
Yellow cards: Hreidarsson, Bouba Diop
West Ham United: Green, Neill, Gabbidon, Upson, McCartney, Solano (Spector 77), Noble, Mullins, Boa Morte, Cole (Ferdinand 90), Bellamy (Etherington 45)
Subs not used: Wright, Camara
Yellow cards: Bellamy, Noble, Solano, Cole