A day after Paul Cook shot down rivals' talk of Pompey being title favourites, his defence did their best to silence them too with their poorest display of the campaign to date.
Happily Gary Roberts and Jayden Stockley got them out of a hole as the Blues pulled back from a 3-0 deficit to draw 3-3.
The late comeback preserved their unbeaten record and left them still in the top six with two wins and two draws from their opening four league games.
Although Pompey started brightly, they lost their way as Morecambe stunned them by moving into a three-goal lead within the first 40 minutes.
Tom Barkhuizen got their first, firing past Brian Murphy after blocking an attempted clearance by Ben Davies.
It was 2-0 on 25 minutes as Alan Goodall headed in Jamie Devitt's corner after Murhpy had made a nice save from a Devitt free-kick.
The Fratton crowd were stunned and it got worse when Andy Fleming converted a Devitt cross.
Pompey badly needed to get one back before the break to stand a chance of saving the game and they did so when Roberts took a free-kick after being fouled a few yards outside the box and curled it beyond Barry Roche's dive.
The first 20 minutes of the second half saw Pompey have most of the possession but with very little to show for it, but Roberts made it 3-2 as he beat two defenders and shot home for his third goal in three games.
Stockley came on with 20 minutes left but Enda Stevens picked up a second booking shortly after to leave Pompey with a real battle to save the game.
Adam Webster and Adam McGurk both came as Pompey threw everything at Morecambe despite being a man down. Finally they were rewarded five minutes into six added on when Webster got forward for a cross that Stockley put away with a brilliant diving header.
Pompey: Murphy; Davies (Webster 74), Burgess, Clarke, Stevens; Atangana, Doyle (c); Evans (McGurk 79), Roberts, Bennett; Tubbs (Stockley 70). Subs not used: Jones, Haunstrup, Hollands, Chaplin
Referee: Roger East
Attendance: 16,052 (69 away fans)
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