Who says lightning doesn't strike twice? Just as they did last season, Pompey let in an injury-time equaliser to come away from Carlisle with a 2-2 draw instead of the 2-1 win they looked certain to take, and would have deserved.
Danny Grainger's double denied Pompey, who took control midway through the second half with strikes by Caolan Lavery and Marc McNulty.
It saw Pompey slip to fifth and puts the pressure on for a victory at home to York on Tuesday night.
With Kyle Bennett back in the starting line-up Pompey made a positive start and Lavery, Adam Webster and Enda Stevens all tested United keeper Mark Gillespie.
Other half-chances came as Pompey enjoyed the best of the first half but typically they found themselves a goal down when, a minute before the interval, Christian Burgess fouled Grainger on the very edge of the box and the home skipper smashed the spot kick down the middle to beat Brian Murphy.
The opening stages of the second half were more even than the first period but Pompey were level after a dream double substitution 19 minutes into the half.
Ben Tollitt and McNulty were the men introduced and after Tollitt had crossed for Lavery to equalise on 66 minutes, McNulty pounced on a mistake in the home defence to beat Gillespie and put Pompey ahead.
McNulty was on the pitch for only six minutes before having to go with a head injury, Nigel Atangana replacing him.
It looked like Pompey would hold on and Bennett might even have made it 3-1, but in the fifth minute of injury time Grainger rocketed home the equaliser from 25 yards.
The fact this goal was within the minimum number of minutes added on, as opposed to the 95th-minute heartbreaker let in here last season, would have been of scant consolation to the 1,000 or so travelling fans who faced a long trip home with only one point to celebrate and not three.
Pompey: Murphy; Davies, Burgess, Webster, Stevens; Hollands, Doyle; Evans (Tollitt 64), McGurk (McNulty 64 (Atangana 74)), Bennett; Lavery. Subs not used: Bass, Clarke, Boco, Chaplin.
Referee: Scott Duncan
Attendance: 5,503 (953 Pompey fans)
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