Doncaster Rovers 0 Portsmouth 2: We didn’t look like scoring, admits O’Driscoll

Following a winless run that stretches back to December, Kitson and Ward helped ease Pompey’s npower Championship relegation worries.

Liam Lawrence could have put them in front early on but his close range shot was well saved by Gary Woods, whilst the visitors were given a wake-up call when James Coppinger fluffed his lines.

They took full advantage of that when Kitson headed in after Greg Halford had struck the post in the 42nd minute.

Ward doubled Portsmouth’s lead with a fine finish 10 minutes later and although they were on the back foot from then on, they defended stoically - despite being reduced to 10 men after Jonathan Hogg was dismissed for a second bookable offence late on.

The win sees Steve Cotterill’s men move seven points clear of the drop zone, whilst Doncaster have now lost six of their last seven games in all competitions.

Doncaster boss Sean O’Driscoll said: “I thought both teams were quite disjointed - you couldn’t tell what either team was trying to do, to be fair.

“As ever, in the Championship, you get a goal up, it’s crucial and the second goal was typical of the goals we’ve been giving away lately so it was really difficult from then on.

“At 2-0 down, it was always going to be difficult to get back into the game.

“We probably had one or two half chances but we didn’t look like we would score all afternoon.”