It was a monstrous battle between two big clubs and in something of a caldron at Fratton Park they stood up tall, producing a well thought-out and muscling effort against a side building towards automatic promotion aspirations next season.
A clinical route-one goal early doors set them up for what followed and once again one goal was all that was needed.
This Wednesday side is a menace; scrapping, balling, scratching and clawing their way towards half a year unbeaten.
Have some ratings as the Owls took another step towards a return to the Championship.
9. Jaden Brown - 6
There wouldn’t have been too many headlines if he’d have been pushed aside for Reece James, but afforded the chance to continue his Owls renaissance he got plenty of ball out wide. Picked out a couple of nice passes. Yellow carded for a naughty one on Rafferty and decision making let him down once or twice but he appears confident - a different player to the one we’ve seen for so much of his Owls career so far. Photo: UGC/jadenbrown6
10. Josh Windass - 8
What a classy finish to open the scoring. Hitting a bouncing ball he did so sweetly and produced an instant classic celebration to boot. Yellow carded for a flare-up late in the first half and generally looked as rowdy as we’ve seen him before he took a breath and settled down. Headed a couple wide for which he might have done better but was a threat all afternoon with his relentless running. Photo: UGC/SWFC
11. Michael Smith - 7
It’s fair to say Smith didn’t have the best of times at Fratton Park - even less so in his interactions with Pompey fans. He rather enjoyed bagging an early assist for a vintage flick-on for Windass and worked incredibly hard. Photo: UGC
12. Fisayo Dele-Bashiru - 7
On for Byers after 34 minutes for what was a big opportunity to press his case for a way back into the side. Showed good feet in several moments if a little rusty on a couple of attacks early doors but shook that off to show his tenacity - nobody made more tackles. Took the brunt of a monstrous tackle from Raggett late on, Photo: UGC/Steve Ellis