Manchester United put in a superb second half display to see off a plucky Pompey at Fratton Park and move to within two points of league leaders Chelsea.

A lively opening for the home side, who were clearly buoyed by Avram Grant's presence in the dugout, got the Fratton Park faithful rocking.

The South Coast outfit came flying out of the traps and enjoyed some early pressure, but found themselves behind after 25 minutes when Wayne Rooney expertly converted a penalty kick.

This was decidedly against the run of play after both Aruna Dindane and Jamie O'Hara had gone close for the home side.

But Michael Brown's reckless challenge on Rooney left ref Mike Dean with no choice but to point to the spot.

Grant's men didn't have to wait long before they were back on level terms however. An innocuous looking free-kick into the box was cleared by Kuszczak, but much to the bewliderment of all involved.

Replays revealed that United's no-nonsense defender Nemadja Vidic felt the need to tug at Frederic Piquionne's shirt, and the eagle eyed Dean spotted it.

After missing from the spot last weekend at Stoke, former Spurs man Kevin Prince Boateng stepped up again and this time found the back of the net to give Pompey deserved parity.

Soon after the equaliser there was a scare at the other end of the pitch as United were convinced they were due a penalty after a perceived hand ball in the penalty area. But it was not given.

Paul Scholes then went close for the visitors, but Portsmouth were still on top as the game approached the halfway stage. Both Dindane and Piquionne went close for Pompey but the team's went in to the break level pegging.

Grant no doubt would have been the happier manager at the interval.

The second period saw the champions move up a gear however. Within ten minutes of the restart they were ahead, and it was that man Rooney again.

Some superb work from Ryan Giggs and Darren Fletcher put Wayne Rooney through and he duly stroked home to send The Red Devils into the lead.

Two became three then when Rooney completed his hat-trick, again from the penalty spot and all of Portsmouth's good work in the first half seemeed to have gone to waste.

Ryan Giggs was hauled down on the edge of the box and Dean promptly pointed to the spot for the third time of the afternoon. After 54 minutes the game looked dead and buried.

Pomepy huffed and puffed and continued to attack but couldn't really carve out any gilt edged opportunities. Kevin Prince Boateng looked threatening but United remained in control.

Welshman Ryan Giggs then put the icing on the cake with an expertly taken free-kick, much to the delight of the travelling faithful and banished boss Sir Alex Ferguson who was watching from the stands.

Starting XI's and Star Man:

Portsmouth: Begovic, Ben-Haim, Kaboul, Wilson, Hreidarsson, Piquionne, Yebda, Boateng, Brown, O'Hara, Dindane. Subs: Ashdown, Utaka, Vanden Borre, Smith, Hughes, Kanu, Belhadj.

Man Utd: Kuszczak, Neville, Brown, Vidic, Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Valencia, Rooney. Subs: Foster, Owen, Anderson, Berbatov, Park, Nani, De Laet.