Young Blues are 4-1 winners in Merit League One
Conor Chaplin (pictured) grabbed a hat-trick as Pompey Academy eased to a 4-1 victory over MK Dons at Furze Lane.
The forward opened the scoring midway through the first half, firing into the bottom corner after collecting Kaleem Haitham’s cut-back.
But Gedeon Okito immediately levelled with the visitors with a superb dipping effort that curled over Alex Bass and underneath the crossbar.
The Blues restored their advantage before the break, however, as Chaplin linked up with Liam Sayers before slotting into the net.
And he completed his treble in the second half following good work from Haitham to win back possession.
Brandon Joseph-Buadi then completed the scoring late on, smashing home after the ball had bounced around the MK Dons box.
Academy coach Mikey Harris said: “It was a good result and a really impressive team performance – everyone played their part.
“The pitch wasn’t really conducive to free-flowing, passing football, which is how both sides like to play.
“But MK Dons came here and tried to play some nice stuff, so we pressed them high up the pitch and worked hard off the ball to win it back quickly.
“We scored some really good goals and – surprise, surprise – Conor came back into the side and got three of them.
“He hasn’t played too much football in the last couple of months because he’s been on the bench for the first team.
“But he was brilliant for the reserves during the week – scoring twice, setting up another and also winning a penalty.
“The gaffer felt that he needed a few more minutes under his belt and Conor was only too happy to come and slot back in with us.”
Pompey: Bass; Widdrington, May, Haunstrup (Saidy 82); Rwakarambwe, Granger, Chaplin, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Davies (Scutt 77); Sayers (Haitham 50), B.Joseph-Buadi