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Sunderland have taken 31 points from 13 home games this season Sunderland kept up the pressure at the top of the Championship with a narrow victory over 10-man Portsmouth. The win keeps them in fourth, but only three points separate them from leaders Leeds United, with Burnley and Sheffield United in second and third. Pompey suffered a fourth successive away defeat and remain just above the bottom three on goals scored from Hull City. Wilson Isidor's eighth goal of the season after only seven minutes was the difference at the Stadium of Light where the Black Cats remain unbeaten. The home side missed further chances to make the game safe against a Pompey side who played the final quarter with 10 men after captain Marlon Pack was sent off for bringing down Isidor when through on goal. Sunderland's 3-1 win at Fratton Park in August made it four wins from four to begin life under Regis Le Bris and their form has been consistent since that flying start to keep them in touch with the leading pack. The Black Cats wasted little time in taking the lead on a bitterly cold afternoon on Wearside. They broke on Portsmouth from inside their own half with Eliezer Mayenda playing a ball through for the pacy Isidor to beat the offside trap and slip his finish past Nicolas Schmid who had come off his line. It was Isidor's eighth goal in 23 matches since joining on loan from Zenit St Petersburg in August. More chances came as Patrick Roberts' volley was kicked off the line by Ryley Towler after fine work from Adil Aouchiche, while a 25-yard strike from the Frenchman brought a strong save out of Schmid. Isidor had the ball in the net for a second time, only for the goal to be ruled out for a correct marginal offside call. Mayenda then spurned a golden opportunity on the stroke of half-time after he was put clear, the Spanish teenager lashing his shot into the side-netting. The visitors had been second best in the opening half with Josh Murphy curling their best effort over after a purposeful run into the area. John Mousinho's side have won only once on their travels this season - at QPR in October - and they are putting immense pressure on their form at Fratton Park to keep them up. Colby Bishop had a good chance early in the second half, but the man who scored 21 times in League One last season headed wide after a bad kick from Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson gifted the visitors the ball in a promising position. The home side resumed control and Isidor was close to a second as he bent one just past the post. And when the French striker got the wrong side of Pack moments later, the Portsmouth skipper was shown a straight red for pulling him down. New Pompey signing Rob Atkinson was sent on and the on-loan Bristol City defender made a goal-saving block to prevent Mayenda from making the game safe. Without the cushion of a second goal, nerves grew and substitute Owen Moxon finally tested Patterson with an 89th-minute effort. However, Sunderland closed out another win which means they have collected 31 points from their 13 home games, providing the basis for their unexpected promotion challenge. Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris told BBC Radio Newcastle: "The early goal was important and opened the game for us. But Portsmouth did well with their own style of play and we struggled. "It was better second half but we didn't score this second goal - 24 shots, many big chances, so the game was open until the end. "Even if we didn't score this goal, we showed our consistency, which is good for a young team. " Portsmouth manager John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent: "I thought we played really well against a really good side with quality all over the pitch. "I'm annoyed with the nature of the goal. We gave the ball away from a throw-in and we didn't deal with that quickly enough or well enough. "But then we stayed in the game. We did that really well in the second half and we frustrated Sunderland for large parts. "It was chalk and cheese from the last away performance - much, much better and a huge amount of improvement but some tiny bits to do to make sure we get there. " Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 5th January 2025 at 16: 54 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Régis Le Bris Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: John Mousinho Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Régis Le Bris Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: John Mousinho Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Championship All competitions All competitions All competitions Sunderland have won three of their last four league meetings with Portsmouth (L1) and could complete a league double over Pompey for the first time since the 1997-98 campaign. Portsmouth have only won one of their last six away games against Sunderland (D2 L3 - including the playoffs), winning 3-1 in October 2020 in League One. Sunderland will begin a calendar year with back-to-back home league games for the first time since 2017, when they drew 2-2 with Liverpool and lost 3-1 to Stoke at the Stadium of Light in the Premier League. Portsmouth have lost each of their last three away league games, last losing four on the bounce on the road in November 2014 in League Two. The away side has won three of the last seven league meetings in the Football League between a team from Tyne and Wear and a side from Hampshire (L4), as many as across the 17 fixtures prior (D4 L10). Match ends, Sunderland 1, Portsmouth 0. Second Half ends, Sunderland 1, Portsmouth 0. Foul by Milan Aleksic (Sunderland). Ryley Towler (Portsmouth) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Substitution, Sunderland. Nazariy Rusyn replaces Eliezer Mayenda. Chris Mepham (Sunderland) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Foul by Chris Mepham (Sunderland). Josh Murphy (Portsmouth) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Attempt blocked. Eliezer Mayenda (Sunderland) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Milan Aleksic. Fourth official has announced 4 minutes of added time. Attempt saved. Owen Moxon (Portsmouth) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Terry Devlin. Attempt blocked. Colby Bishop (Portsmouth) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Callum Lang with a cross. Substitution, Portsmouth. Owen Moxon replaces Freddie Potts. Substitution, Portsmouth. Christian Saydee replaces Andre Dozzell. Offside, Sunderland. Dennis Cirkin is caught offside. Trai Hume (Sunderland) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Josh Murphy (Portsmouth). Attempt blocked. Eliezer Mayenda (Sunderland) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Attempt saved. Trai Hume (Sunderland) left footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Patrick Roberts. Attempt missed. Luke O'Nien (Sunderland) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.