Didier Drogba struck a late goal to keep Chelsea on track for second place with a vital away win against Portsmouth. Respect should be given to the staff maintaining the pitch at Fratton Park. If it was anywhere else in the world that pitch would have been flooded inside 45 minutes, but the game somehow went on and the pitch held firm in a biblical rain.

Drogba got a crisp shot into the bottom corner from a Jose Bosingwa cross with 10 minutes left on the clock. He made amends for an earlier miss when he didn't reach an Ashley Cole cross. It was hardly harsh for the hosts, as although they had chances of their own, Chelsea were simply the better team on the turf.

Portsmouth are now 16th in the league, just two points clear from 18th placed Middlesbrough and an acquaintance with the relegation zone. Still, they gave Chelsea a few headaches as Petr Cech had to save on two occasions dangerous attempts by Sean Davis and David Nugent.

Chelsea began the proceedings more actively than their hosts, as it was apparent that they had come to Fratton Park for the three points. They were more dangerous but also a lot more wasteful.

The match went on with obvious Blues superiority and with more wasted opportunities.

In the end, it was Ricardo Quaresma, on loan from Inter Milan, who provided the goal. The Portuguese winger's dangerous cross was cleared away from goal, but Drogba was on hand to drill the ball home low from 15 yard out into the lower corner.

Immediately after the goal, Portsmouth pushed forward and the Londoners had to fend off for the last 10 minutes to preserve that vital one goal advantage. With Pompey advancing, the Blues worked their socks off  to preserve the lead, defender Alex blocking a close range header from Niko Kranjcar with five minutes to go, while Drogba headed a stoppage time free-kick away, but not before Pompey goalkeeper David James had saved from Quaresma.

When the final whistle came, it meant that Chelsea kept their second place and extended their unbeaten record at Fratton Park  for almost 50 years, and it also meant that Guus Hiddink has maintained his 100 per cent record with his new club.

After the match, Portsmouth manager Paul Hart told the BBC: "It is definitely a disappointing result but I thought it was a tremendous performance. We had a strategy and the boys kept to it. We created chances on the back of that but against the top teams you have to stick them away.

"I think we could have won but two saves by Cech were outstanding. I thought we deserved at least a point. There are a lot of disappointed players in the dressing room but they know they put in a performance that merited a little bit more."