Jermain Defoe scored two goals in the first 10 minutes against Birmingham to send Portsmouth on their way to a 4-2 win at Fratton Park.

Birmingham hit back with goals from Fabrice Muamba and Sebastian Larsson to leave the scores at 2-2 at the interval before Hermann Hreidarsson, four minutes after the restart, and Nwankwo Kanu, in the second minute of added time, secured the win for Pompey.

Portsmouth got off to the perfect start as Milan Baros got the better of Liam Ridgewell on the right hand side of the box before earning his side a penalty when David Murphy was judged to have handled the ball.

Defoe calmly stepped up to send the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net and just three minutes later he had a second as Birmingham were caught napping at the back.

The diminutive former Tottenham striker simply found himself in the right place at the right time as Baros' shot was deflected by visiting keeper Maik Taylor into his path at after Sulley Muntari had also seen his shot parried.

Blues boss Alex McLeish only had to wait another 60 seconds though before his side made their mark on the match with Birmingham earning themselves a corner from the re-start. Larsson whipped his ball in towards the penalty spot, Ridgewell headed on towards the far post where Muamba, having made a great run to appear from nowhere, was on hand to deflect the ball into the back of the net.

After three goals in five minutes, Portsmouth were forced to wait until the 33rd minute before fashioning another real chance on goal.

Muntari's free kick, after Gary McSheffrey brought down Baros, was allowed to go untouched and almost curled into the left-hand corner of the net before Taylor managed to scramble across and turn the ball behind for a corner.

It was Birmingham, however, who went in for half-time with the smiles on their faces as Larsson sent them level with a brilliant free-kick, thumped into the top left-hand corner of the net after Mikael Forsell had made the most of Glen Johnson's tackle.

Portsmouth came back out for the restart firing on all cylinders with Hreidarsson putting the hosts back in front, tapping home from six yards out after Muntari's free-kick towards the penalty spot came off Ridgewell's head and into the path of the Icelander.

Birmingham had a chance to equalise in the 77th minute when Larsson produced a great chipped cross for substitute Cameron Jerome, whose header towards the near post almost caught David James napping. But the England keeper was quickly across to his right and managed to tip the ball around the post.

Muntari then tried his luck from 25 yards out, after Kanu had laid the ball back to him, and watched as his shot just went over the crossbar as a worried Taylor scampered across to cover.

But it was to be Kanu who eventually gave the hosts the breathing space they had been looking for as he produced an acrobatic header in the second minute of extra time to secure the win.

Pedro Mendes found himself in acres of space on the right wing before picking out Kanu at the far post and the Nigerian ensured that his club move up to seventh in the Premier League.

Pippa Davis / Eurosport