How does it feel, when your team is scraping the bottom of the Premier League, when your better players have been pruned one by one, plucked away to leave the branches bare, when your club is being squeezed into financial oblivion, when, to top it all, you are at the mercy of a ceaseless downpour? For the supporters of Portsmouth, it feels like making you celebrate your club with even more barefaced commitment.

Their trip to Fulham, uplifting for 75 minutes, ended up as another dose of masochism. A courageous attempt to take the game to their hosts backfired as Portsmouth were architects of their own undoing in helping Fulham to score the only goal of the game. Jonathan Greening was the recipient after Nadir Belhadj fumbled on his return from the Africa Cup of Nations. It was the ex-West Brom winger’s first goal of his Fulham career.

Given the strides Fulham have made over the past couple of years, it jarred a little to see their manager Roy Hodgson mentioning Premier League survival as their biggest goal for the remainder of the season, even if form has dropped off alarmingly. As their opponents were entitled to ask him: you think you’ve got problems?

Portsmouth at home might have appeared like the ideal fixture for a team in need of a booster, but the Premier League’s most wounded club arrived with a voracious appetite for the fight. The collection of players Avram Grant was able to field, who had been belatedly paid earlier in the day, made a sprightly start.

Despite the gradual stripping of resources which saw two of the club’s biggest cash generators sold in January, their team still comprised eight full internationals, with the other three capped at under-21 level.

When Frédéric Piquionne cantered into the box and got a shot away unchallenged, agitation pricked the home support. Kevin Prince Boateng lashed in a 30-yarder which careered fractionally wide. The German then danced daintily into the area and steered in another shot for Mark Schwarzer to deal with. He played with enough zest to suggest he is auditioning to become the next returning ex for Tottenham.

Unsurprisingly, having dominated the opening exchanges, Portsmouth were vulnerable to the first attack Fulham mustered. Aaron Hughes headed goalwards from a corner, but David James parried smartly.

With half-time approaching Fulham awoke from their slumbers. Stefano Okaka had a half-chance, heading wide from a couple of yards and probably thankful of the offside flag that saved him from too much shame. Bobby Zamora’s jinking run was stopped by a last-ditch tackle.

End product has been the bane of Portsmouth this season, who have played prettily, if naively, for much of the campaign. They continued crafting chances after the break but struggled to find the beating of Schwarzer. Another fine opportunity was thrwarted when Aruna Dindane glanced in Angelos Basinas’s dipping corner.

Fulham toiled. The clinical touch has been frustratingly elusive for them, too, during a stodgy run of five straight defeats in the league. Damien Duff hooked in a shot which was deflected. Zamora headed straight into Schwarzer’s upper body and glanced another wide.

The Fulham substitute Erik Nevland pounced on a careless pass from Belhadj and angled a fierce shot a fraction off target. Unfortunately for Portsmouth, it would not be his only error. In the 74th minute, Duff dispossessed the Algerian inside his own area. The Irishman advanced and fizzed over a low cross for Greening to slide in. Fulham’s relief in scoring was palpable. Portsmouth’s frustration was yet another shot of pain to absorb.

Hodgson will hope that this result, eked out unconvincingly, is enough to encourage his team to turn the corner and return to brighter climes. The FA Cup and Europa Cup await as well as that old chestnut about Premier League survival.