Grimsby Town 0 - 1 Portsmouth: Naismith stunner earns victory for Portsmouth

A late free-kick from substitute Kal Naismith earned Portsmouth a 1-0 victory over Grimsby at Blundell Park.

His curling strike from 25 yards, after replacing top scorer Gary Roberts, was enough to settle the match five minutes from time.

A crowd of 6,560 attended the League Two clash in Cleethorpes.

Early on, it took a fingertip save from Grimsby stopper James McKeown to deny Gareth Evans, before Danny Rose also dragged wide for Pompey.

Other chances were few and far between for the remainder of the first half but soon after the restart, McKeown had to be on red alert as Michael Smith bore down on goal, only to shoot straight at the goalkeeper.

At the other end, a dipping volley from Ashley Chambers brought the best out of David Forde.

It sparked the season-high crowd into life and the introduction of Tom Bolarinwa from the bench had a similar impact on Grimsby.

But a spell of home pressure proved to be in vain as Naismith curled a fine winner past McKeown.