Iain Dowie coined the term bouncebackability, but he did not want to see a demonstration here, as Hull appeared on course for the first away win in over a year, only to lose thanks to two Portsmouth goals in the dying minutes. Dowie’s appointment was not popular, but it was beginning to look inspired as both Hull goals were scored by Caleb Folan, a player who had not appeared for the club since August.

Both sides began tenaciously, but it was the visitors who forced the first chance. Kevin Kilbane, another player recalled to the starting line-up by Dowie, chipped a dainty cross to the back post for Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink in the fourth minute. The Dutchman leapt well and directed his header towards the other corner, only for it to bounce out off the upright.

Three minutes later Portsmouth came close, Marc Wilson curling a free-kick fractionally wide from 25 yards. Goalmouth action then dried up for a while, as both sides betrayed a stark lack of creative quality, although it did remain an intensely contested game.

Wilson fired another shot just wide in the 23rd minute and Nadir Belhadj did likewise moments later. The fact that Portsmouth were restricted to long-range attempts would have pleased Dowie, who has made it clear that shoring up Hull’s defence – the most porous in the league – is a prerequisite for survival. In the 27th minute the new boss’s mood was lifted even higher, when a Jimmy Bullard corner was cleared to the edge of the area and Craig Fagan cracked a hopeful low shot goalwards. It skimmed through a slew of players and into the net via a slight touch from Folan, who scored his first goal in a year and a half.

Now it was Portsmouth who had to show that quality famously extolled by Dowie. And they did so, equalising within 10 minutes. This goal also came from a corner and was as messy as Hull’s had been. Frédéric Piquionne rose highest at the back post to head down Jamie O’Hara’s delivery, and Tommy Smith scuffed the bouncing ball into the net from close range.

Thereafter the skirmishing resumed, Hull’s Bullard seemingly the only player capable of injecting occasional class. His visionary range of passing meant Hull continued to carry a threat even if the match was mostly scrappy. It was after a move orchestrated by Bullard in the 41st minute that Dean Marney fired just wide from the edge of the penalty area.

Portsmouth improved in the second half as Wilson, deployed in midfield rather than his customary centre-back position, grew in influence. Boaz Myhill was seldom troubled, however, due to a combination of Pompey’s haplessness around the area and determined defending by Hull, as exemplified by a Paul McShane block on a Smith shot in the 61st minute.

In the 70th minute Dowie introduced Richard Garcia for Vennegor of Hesselink and that proved judicious, as within three minutes the new arrival split the Pompey defence with a pass, leaving Folan to slot the ball past the out-rushing James.

In the 90th minute O’Hara curled in a free-kick from the edge of the area, and fewer than 60 seconds later Belhadj broke down the left and crossed to Nwankwo Kanu, who shot into the net from eight yards.

Premier LeaguePortsmouthHull CityPaul Doyleguardian.co.uk

For Hull this match marks the start of life without Phil Brown. He has been replaced by Iain Dowie, who knows all about life at the bottom end of the Premier League following spells as manager at Crystal Palace and Charlton, as well as assistant to Alan Shearer at Newcastle last season. On each occasion, his side have been relegated. Defeat today would make it more likely that Hull will go down alongside Portsmouth, who have just been docked nine points and now have only the FA Cup to look forward to this season. Tim Wigmore

Venue Fratton Park, Saturday 3pm

Tickets £20-38 (0844 847 1898)

Last season Portsmouth 2 Hull 2

Referee P Dowd

This season’s matches 22 Y69, R4, 3.32 cards per game

Odds Portsmouth 6-5 Hull 13-5 Draw 12-5

Portsmouth

Subs from Ashdown, Vanden Borre, Mokoena, Webber, Dindane, Mullins, Kanu, Yebda, Smith, Boateng, Ritchie, Hughes, Basinas, Utaka

Doubtful Boateng (ankle), James (calf), Smith (groin), Utaka (groin), Yebda (knee)

Injured Vanden Borre (hamstring, 27 Mar), Ben Haim (groin, 27 Mar)

Suspended None

Form guide LLWLDL

Disciplinary record Y62 R4

Leading scorers Dindane, Piquionne 5

Hull

Subs from Duke, McShane, Kilbane, Cairney, Altidore, Ghilas, Barmby, Cooper, Garcia, Fagan, Marney, Folan

Doubtful Geovanni (knee), Hunt (foot)

Injured Ashbee (knee, unknown), Gardner (ankle, unknown)

Suspended Boateng (one match)

Form guide LLLLWD

Disciplinary record Y53 R5

Leading scorer Hunt 6

Match pointers

• Portsmouth are unbeaten in their last eight league meetings with Hull

• Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink has committed more fouls without being booked (38) than any other player in the top flight this season

• Portsmouth have conceded the first goal in 21 of their 29 league games this season

• Hull have had a player sent off in three of their last four Premier League matches

• Jamie O’Hara has had more shots at goal than any other Portsmouth player (63) but has only found the net once in the league in 2009-10

Premier LeaguePortsmouthHull Cityguardian.co.uk

Hull would prefer a £16m Premier League problem to the £21m headache awaiting in the Championship

Iain Dowie is due for a surprise first appearance in the Fratton Park technical area tomorrow, as Hull City travel to Portsmouth for a crunch meeting with the club whose multiple woes shape the Premier League’s most cautionary tale. Bust, in turmoil and relegated is a place Hull’s chairman, Adam Pearson, is determined his club must never be but Pompey, after their nine-point deduction for going into administration, look irretrievably down.

The idea of Portsmouth’s administrator, Andrew Andronikou, mounting a challenge to the nine-point penalty appears wilfully blind to the reasons it has been imposed. Portsmouth, like all clubs who declare insolvency and enter administration, will emerge, under whichever new owner, having almost certainly not paid their debts in full. HM Revenue and Customs, and all the high-and-dry creditors in the usual dispiriting list, will be asked to take a cut of what they are owed, while “football creditors” – the amply rewarded players – will, according to the league’s rules, be paid in full.

Clubs themselves, first in the Football League then in the Premier League, voted overwhelmingly for points penalties to be imposed on clubs who do this. The principle is that, if clubs do not meet their responsibilities, they cannot compete without sanction against others dutifully paying their way.

Pearson, the commercial director who managed to emerge with an unblemished record even as Leeds United “lived the dream” around him in 2002-03, is shaped by that experience into trying to manage football dreams with care. He bought Hull out of their own wretched administration in 2001, oversaw the club’s rebuilding and move to the KC Stadium, then in 2007 sold out to the current owner, the Essex property investor Russell Bartlett. Pearson bought into Derby County, then returned to Hull last October at Bartlett’s invitation, after the former chairman, Paul Duffen, resigned. Duffen claimed he was owed money on his contract and Hull then sued Duffen, claiming he had been suspended before his resignation and accusing him of accepting payments from agents, unnamed, for directing club business their way. Duffen denied it all, then the case was settled last month on terms neither side has revealed.

What did become certain, and was reinforced this week, is that Hull have financial challenges, having made a £13m loss under Bartlett and Duffen to gain promotion from the Championship. The club’s accounts for the 14 months to 31 July 2008, filed several months late, carried the warning that Hull had to repay all their £22m bank loans by July this year and so would need £23m extra if they found themselves relegated, £16m even if they stayed in the Premier League. The accountants, Deloitte, decided that position was shaky enough to “represent a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt over the company’s ability to continue as a going concern”.

Pearson, on taking over, argued that the £36m wage bill had to be wrestled down, and £5.3m had been committed in agents’ fees. Duffen had argued the wage bill was not excessive and predicted the club would show a profit for 2008-09.

Hull’s accounts for the year to 31 July 2009 were published this week and did indeed show a profit, of £1m. The wage bill, £34m then, looks manageable as the club recorded a turnover in its first Premier League season of £51m. Yet Deloitte issued almost exactly the same warning again. Hull, the accountants said, will need to find an additional £21m from selling players or raising finance if relegated, and £16m even if Dowie can harangue his inherited team into staying up. Again the accountants judged this represented “a material uncertainty” about the club’s ability to stay in business.

The key to the club’s dilemma is in its bank debt. The amount owed is down now to £4.6m, which Pearson justifiably described as the lowest in the league – yet it has to be repaid in full by July. The money is owed to Investec, which has been advancing Hull loans in the Premier League against TV and other money the club were due to receive from the League. That £4.6m is but a fingernail of the monster which has devoured Portsmouth, yet Hull were also stated to owe £15m to “trade creditors” and £4.5m in tax.

The accounts stated that they are trying to borrow again: “The club is currently in advanced discussions with finance providers for the acceleration of known Premier League distributions [money due from the Premier League] for amounts of £7m.”

Pearson, who ran Hull prudently for six years before coming back to deal with all this, said this week he is confident the club will manage. He will, though, be hoping fervently that Dowie can steer Hull into the £16m Premier League problem, rather than the £21m headache lurking in the Championship.

Hull CityPortsmouthBusinessPremier LeagueDavid Connguardian.co.uk