Norwich City claimed their first Championship win of the season with a 2-1 victory at Fratton Park, surviving a furious late push from Portsmouth after early set-piece strikes from Harry Darling and Josh Sargent. Colby Bishop saw a second-half penalty saved by Vladan Kovacevic before new Australian forward Adrian Segecic's low drive set up a tense finale, but Liam Manning's side clung on through 10 minutes of added time.
The result gave Manning his first league win in charge of his boyhood club after defeat by Millwall on the opening day, while halting the momentum of a Portsmouth team buoyed by an opening victory at Oxford and the return from injury of former Norwich winger Josh Murphy. For John Mousinho, the anger lay in soft defending from dead balls and a late penalty appeal that was waved away, leaving Portsmouth, in his words, 'scratching our heads' at how they failed to find an equaliser.
Scripted routines put Norwich in command inside 14 minutes
Fratton Park was stunned inside six minutes when a rehearsed free-kick routine undid Portsmouth. Marcelino Nunez whipped in a dangerous delivery from the right and Darling, left unmarked in a central position, guided a firm header past Nicolas Schmid to open the scoring. Mousinho later admitted his side had 'just apologetically defended the first goal, allowing Harry Darling to have a free header', adding that 'it doesn't matter what level you play at, that's not good'.