A first Charlton goal for Jonny Williams and a towering header from Chuks Aneke ensured that Charlton took all three points at Fratton Park on Saturday afternoon.
The result means that the Addicks now make it five wins on the spin and solidify their spot in the play-off places as the table begins to take shape.
Bowyer made three changes to the side which beet Oxford United 2-0 on Tuesday night, with Adam Matthews making his first start for the Addicks since re-joining at the beginning of the week and Jake Forster-Caskey and Jonny Williams returning to the starting lineup. Darren Pratley’s experience in a defensive line was also called upon as the Addicks re-adjusted following Ryan Inniss’ dismissal against the U’s.
The Addicks started the stronger side, with Omar Bogle and Conor Washington finding in-roads early on from the left-hand side. But It would be the home side who would fire the first alarm bell when Marcus Harness was able to nick the ball off of Ian Maatsen and feed through to Ronan Curtis who, much to Charlton’s relief, blazed over from close range.
Charlton struggled to settle after the opening exchanges with a number of misplaced passes, though Portsmouth did little to trouble Ben Amos.
But on 26 minutes, the Addicks went ahead. A cross-field pass from Jake Forster-Caskey was met wonderfully by Maatsen who diverted the ball across the face of goal to Williams, who was able to slam it beyond Craig MacGillivray for his first goal in Charlton colours.
Charlton continued to hunt for a second goal and were perhaps unfortunate to not be awarded a penalty when Bogle turned his man but was seemingly manhandled in the box.
As the half came to a close, Pompey began to apply some pressure, opting to go wide in their attacks. But the Addicks stood firm and saw the opening 45 minutes out with the advantage.
After the restart, little seemed to separate the two sides and Andy Cannon’s shot straight at Amos on 50 minutes may have been an indiction of Portsmouth’s frustration at Charlton’s compact defence.
However, the visitors weren’t settling with just a one goal lead and scoured for a second, Williams and Forster-Caskey troubling the hosts once again.
Pompey changed their shape with just under half an hour to go and soon began asking questions of the Addicks’ defence as the game became increasingly frantic.
Bowyer opted for a change himself, replacing Williams with Paul Smyth and Bogle with Aneke. A third change was then forced soon after when Akin Famewo came off through injury with Ben Purrington being his replacement.
With just over 10 minutes to go, Charlton could have easily had a second when Aneke was sent through and used his muscle and speed to put him one on one with MacGillivray but the striker was only able to fire straight at the keeper.
But the striker would atone for his wastefulness just minutes later when a ball in from Smyth picked Aneke out at the far post and the striker duly headed beyond the reach of Portsmouth’s number one to the far corner.
With a two goal deficit to make up, Pompey’s frustration grew and despite a late flurry of set pieces, the Addicks saw the game off to take the points and clock up now over nine hours without conceding.
Portsmouth: MacGillivray, Johnson, Brown, Naylor, Whatmough (Nicholaisen 45), Williams, Marquis, Curtis, Cannon, Harness (Harrison 63), Raggett
Subs (Not Used): Bass, Close, Morris, Pring, Hiwula
Booked: Nicolaisen 89 (Foul on Smyth)
Charlton: Amos; Maatsen, Famewo (Purrington 74), Pratley, Gunter, Matthews; Williams (Smyth 71), Forster-Caskey, Shinnie; Bogle (Aneke 71), Washington
Subs (Not Used): Maynard-Brewer, Morgan, Levitt, Vennings
Booked: Amos 59 (Booked for timewasting), Maatsen 71 (Foul), Aneke 90+2 (Foul on Curtis)
Goals: Williams 26, Aneke 82
Referee: C Boyeson
Attendance: 0 (behind closed doors)