Portsmouth confirmed their Championship status for another year with victory over Watford at Fratton Park.

The Blues now have a six point gap to the bottom three with two games remaining - and Hull City and Derby County to still face each other below them.

The Blues took the lead in the first half through Colby Bishop, who capitalised on Watford failing to deal with a cross to nod the ball home from close range.

The Hornets had a man sent off in the second half, Kevin Keben brought down Josh Murphy just outside the area and was shown a red card by referee Sam Allison.

A bouncing Fratton Park knew that a win for the home side would be enough to secure Championship safety.

And the hosts came close to opening the scoring when Bishop flicked the ball on to Matt Ritchie who had two close-range efforts saved by Watford keeper Egil Selvik.

Portsmouth then took the lead on 25 minutes, Selvik spilt a cross from Josh Murphy and Bishop was there to head the ball home for his 11th goal of the season, and the goal meant the number nine is now Pompey's top scorer for the campaign.

The Hornets came close to an equaliser minutes later, Imran Louza took a shot from distance and forced a brilliant save out of Nicolas Schmid, who pushed the effort onto the crossbar.

Watford were reduced to ten men just before the hour mark as Keben brought down Pompey's Murphy on the edge of the area.

Then ten men of Watford piled pressure onto Portsmouth in the final moments but Pompey held with the home crowd celebrating wildly as the full-time whistle sounded.

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent:

"I thought we played so well in the first half and didn't manage to put it to bed in the second.

"I think the boys had nerves with the severity of the occasion and how important it was to pick up the three points.

"It's a brilliant achievement but it's the next building block for where we need to go as a football club. We need to establish ourselves here now; we will go again and improve from where we have been this season.

"Survival hasn't quite sunk in for me yet because of the emotion of the game. I will definitely have a beer tonight though!"

Watford boss Tom Cleverley told BBC Radio Three Counties:

"The sending off was a complete guess from the referee.

"This level of football when you make a big decision you have to get it right. Kevin (Keben) gets the ball and it's a really disappointing decision.

"We seem to be suffering a lot of red cards and in a hostile environment here I think he has sided with the home side.

"We must play well in our last two games to finish the season well, it's been a really tough period.

"I don't think there is enough consequences at this club for not doing your job at times; some people deserved to come off today. I'll be much more demanding in the next two weeks for sure."