Portsmouth’s last-gasp FA Cup replay victory at Championship side Coventry this week was a small piece of good news for the cash-strapped outfit.

Aaron Mokoena’s first-ever Pompey goal guaranteed a fourth-round home tie against EPL colleagues Sunderland, as well as prize money for their third-round victory.

 

However, these are drops in the club’s on-going ocean of debt. And there seems little sign of a solution.

Portsmouth had come from behind to earn their FA Cup replay, thanks to a header from midfielder Kevin Prince-Boateng.

And they benefited from a rare slick of luck at the Ricoh Arena, being gifted a last-minute equaliser when Coventry skipper Stephen Wright looped a header over his own goalkeeper for no apparent reason to take the game to extra-time.

An unmarked Mokoena headed the winner in the last minute of extra-time, prompting manager Avram Grant to comment: “Even with all the problems and difficulties you need to keep fighting.”

Portsmouth are continuing to dispute their transfer embargo and a High Court winding-up order from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) over unpaid VAT.

The club met EPL officials on Tuesday to provide them with up-to-date information on their finances and ask for the embargo to be lifted to allow Grant to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window.

The embargo was imposed in October and the EPL have threatened to use Portsmouth’s £7m share of the league’s broadcast revenues to pay off clubs, such as Chelsea and Tottenham, still owed money for past transfers. Discussions were on-going at the time of writing.

French sides Lens and Rennes also claim they are owed transfer fees, with Lens threatening legal action to resolve matters.

Portsmouth were served with a winding-up petition by HMRC on December 23^rd and face a full hearing in London’s High Court on February 11^th if the dispute is not resolved by then.

The amount owed is believed to be approximately £7.5m but the club dispute the figure and said they had “formally notified HMRC of this and we expect HMRC to withdraw their demands forthwith.”

In the meantime, Portsmouth were up to a week late paying December salaries to playing and non-playing staff, the third delayed salary payment in recent months.

They originally tried to claim that “the problem was due to a file not being properly loaded at the bank.” But it soon became clear that Portsmouth were again reliant on external loans to pay their employees.

Hong Kong-based businessman Balram Chainrai provided the finance on previous occasions. The source of the latest borrowings is unclear.

Former owner Sacha Gaydamak has tried to deflect blame for the crisis away from his three-year tenure, which saw Portsmouth lift the FA Cup in 2008 but also saw much of the current debt accumulate.

In an interview with fans web-site truebluearmy.com Gaydamak claimed: “The debts when I left were normal in the context of a Premier League business.” However, Gaydamak himself is claiming he is owed £28m, £9m of which is due by January 31^st