Cardiff City continued their resurgence under interim manager Omer Riza as they swept aside Portsmouth with another fluent attacking display to earn a second home win in four days.
Buoyed by their 5-0 demolition of Plymouth Argyle on Saturday, the Bluebirds made another flying start as Regan Poole’s own goal and Callum Robinson’s close-range finish put them 2-0 up after 13 minutes.
The home side wasted several chances to extend their lead either side of half-time, with Portsmouth’s substitute goalkeeper Jordan Archer kept busy by the likes of David Turnbull and Anwar El Ghazi.
Having been thoroughly outplayed for much of the match, Pompey showed flickers of a revival in the second half but had their rare efforts on goal kept out by captain Jak Alnwick in the opposition goal.
While Cardiff’s victory takes them out of the Championship relegation zone for the first time this season as they move up to 19th, defeat leaves Portsmouth bottom of the table.
The Bluebirds have now won three of their five matches under Riza, who has already publicly declared his desire to get the job at the Welsh side on a permanent basis.
And although the former Watford coach is inexperienced as a manager at this level, the vibrant nature of his team’s performances will have enhanced his prospects almost as much as the vastly improved results.
Given how Cardiff have played over the past four days, you would be forgiven for forgetting that they had endured the worst start to a season in their 125-year history before sacking Erol Bulut a month ago.
Yet having mustered a mere four goals from their first nine matches of the Championship campaign, the Bluebirds have racked up seven in two.
They climbed off the bottom of the Championship table with a flourish by putting five past Plymouth on Saturday, and they started this game in the same vein.
With just over five minutes played, Perry Ng fired in a low cross from the right and Wales international centre-back Poole slid in to divert the ball into his own net.
Cardiff doubled their advantage seven minutes later, as Alex Robertson’s corner was flicked on by Dimitrios Goutas to the back post, where Robinson finished via the underside of the bar.
Having taken 309 minutes to score their first home league goal of the season, Cardiff had struck seven in the space of 87 minutes.
Just as they did against Plymouth, Riza’s men streamed forward at every opportunity and set a pace their opponents could not live with.
Cardiff should have extended their lead before half-time, with Ollie Tanner, El Ghazi and Turnbull all going close, and the home side continued to exert pressure after the interval.
Callum O’Dowda’s dangerous cross was deflected narrowly wide and Turnbull had a swerving shot saved by Archer – but Portsmouth were not out of the contest.
Backed by their loud contingent of travelling supporters, Pompey finally managed their first shot on target in the 57th minute as Kusini Yengi’s effort was helped on by Callum Lang, only for Cardiff keeper Jak Alnwick to keep it out with an excellent low save.
Archer was still the busier of the two keepers and had to get down well to block an El Ghazi shot with his legs, and the Pompey man had to be alert to deny Rubin Colwill in stoppage time.
The Bluebirds could not add to their lead but nothing was going to detract from a celebratory atmosphere inside Cardiff City Stadium as the home fans savoured a third successive home win.
Cardiff City: Alnwick ©, Ng, Goutas, Chambers, O’Dowda, Robertson (Rinomhota 66’), Turnbull (Siopis 66’), Colwill, Tanner (Willock 77’), El Ghazi (Meite 77’), Robinson (Kanga 85’). Subs Not Used: Horvath, Fish, Daland, Bagan.
Portsmouth: Schmid (Archer 31') , Williams (Devlin 45’), Ogilvie, Poole, Pack ©, Potts, McIntyre, Sørensen (Saydee 45’), Murphy (Ritchie 77’), Lane (Yengi 15’), Lang. Subs Not Used: Towler, O’Mahony, Dozzell, Kamara.