Leeds going out with a whimper

It is over a year since Leeds managed to win three in a row. Should they lose at Bolton on Sunday and City beat Newcastle, their dramatic three-year fall from Champions League to Nationwide League will be complete.

Millionaire fan Steve Parkin, who still hopes to effect a £20million takeover in the next 10 days, might be forgiven for having second thoughts although, in truth, there has long been an air of gloom at the club.

By contrast, Pompey arrived with all the confidence that a team with 13 points from the previous five games is entitled to display and there was a bravado to their play in the first half which deflated Leeds.

Without suspended talisman and leading scorer Mark Viduka and with a midfield including veteran defender Lucas Radebe, Gray's side were always going to struggle for the win they desperately needed. Viduka's absence was particularly noticeable as 21- year- old deputy Simon Johnson worked in vain to get involved alongside Alan Smith, whose usual veinbulging contribution ran into stiff resistance.

Both Portsmouth's centre backs have done Premiership duty with other Yorkshire sides now fallen on harder times, De Zeeuw with Barnsley and Dejan Stefanovic at Sheffield Wednesday.

They were not about to allow Smith and Co past. It was the day Pompey saved their season - something they feared was beyond them during a winter slide down the table which they had led briefly last autumn. Leeds' woeful defending has let them down all season but there was little Duberry could do to neutralise the superb cross from Steve Stone that gave Yakubu the crucial headed opener.

The Nigerian's goals last season lifted Portsmouth into the big time. His fifth in six games ensured Premiership football for another season for Redknapp's team, even if the manager still refuses to pop the champagne corks.

He demanded five wins to stay up in the wake of a 3-0 defeat at Liverpool in March. Lomana LuaLua's 50thminute goal from close range, after Paul Robinson blocked Yakubu's header, clinched them. Redknapp, who has just signed a new contract, said: 'We're nearly there but we still need another result. I always felt that we'd be OK. I can't say I've enjoyed it, but this will be a terrific achievement.

'If you're a Pompey fan, these have been the best two years of your life. But we've begged, borrowed and stolen to get us through and when the going got tough, they kept going.

'You need your best players. Eddie missed Viduka today, I had an unrecognisable team for a dozen games that almost did us. Every year is going to be a struggle for us, a relegation battle.'

As Leeds' 14-year spell in the top flight draws to a dark close, Gray would settle for that.

There are no last rites for Leeds yet, just the ironic sight, as Portsmouth's 3,000 travelling fans celebrated, of classic goals from past heroes showing on giant screens.

On the day Leeds held their '100 greatest goals' dinner, with Gray's 1970 gem against Burnley the favourite, his team could not even find a couple of ordinary ones in their hour of need.