Portsmouth 1 - 1 Carlisle: Promotion hopefuls Pompey held by 10-man Carlisle

Promotion hopefuls Portsmouth opened their season with a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to 10-man Carlisle.

Former MK Dons midfielder Carl Baker rescued a point for Pompey with a debut goal to cancel out Reggie Lambe's opener for the Cumbrians, who had Jamie Devitt sent off before half-time.

Portsmouth started the brighter, with summer signing Milan Lalkovic forcing Carlisle goalkeeper Mark Gillespie into a good save just five minutes in.

But five minutes later the away side took the lead. A neat through-ball from Mike Jones was latched onto by Lambe, who calmly slotted past David Forde.

Carlisle were reduced to 10 men just shy of the half-hour mark when Devitt was shown a second yellow card for a tug on Gary Roberts.

Just before the break, Portsmouth levelled through Baker, who drilled a low shot past Gillespie.

Michael Smith missed an open goal early in the second half for the home side, before Roberts and substitute Kyle Bennett were both wasteful late on.