Portsmouth boosted their bid for European football with a scrappy 1-0 win over Sunderland at Fratton Park.

Jermain Defoe got the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in the 69th minute after Phil Bardsley's trailing leg caught Niko Kranjcar in the box.

The win moves Portsmouth above Manchester City (who play Everton on Monday) into seventh in the table, while Sunderland remain just four points off the drop zone.

Harry Redknapp's side dominated the match territorially but throughout the game they struggled to create chances in a game that rarely got the pulse racing.

The first half was poor, the second-half little better, and the match as a whole was instantly forgettable.

There were only four shots on target in the entire match and not one of them was from a woefully unimaginative Sunderland side.

A Sulley Muntari free-kick over the bar was the best either side could manage in the first-half but after the break Portsmouth started to at least improve their passing and the result was more balls into the box.

They had a few tame efforts on target that at least made Craig Gordon work and had a decent penalty shout when Johnny Evans looked to have pulled back Hermann Hreidarsson in the box.

However, they did get their spot-kick when Kranjcar tricked his way into the box before catching the leg of Bardsley. The Croatian didn't need too much encouragement to fall down but it was still the correct decision.

Defoe emphatically dispatched the spot kick for his second goal since moving from Tottenham.

Sunderland brought Michael Chopra, Dwight Yorke and Rade Prica on to try and change things but a Grant Leadbitter free-kick that was fired well wide was the best they could manage on a horribly ineffective afternoon.

It speaks volumes about the game that the most dangerous attacking player on the day was Portsmouth's right-back Glen Johnson, and he fired wide in the final moments just after Defoe could have also nicked a second, with Portsmouth maintaining their dominance right up until the final whistle.

Seán Fay / Eurosport