Portsmouth battled from behind to navigate their way through a potential Emirates FA Cup banana skin with a 3-1 win at Hereford on an emotional opening night of first round proper weekend.
Miles Storey had handed the National League North side the lead before goals from Reeco Hackett-Fairchild, birthday boy Colby Bishop and Joe Pigott turned the tables at Edgar Street.
The hosts rallied to force their way back into the contest but were unable to draw level on a night where the club celebrated the remarkable life of Ronnie Radford – the scorer of one of the great Emirates FA Cup goals exactly 50 years ago – who died this week aged 79.
Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley said: “It was so sad to hear the news about Ronnie Radford but this was a brilliant night to celebrate his life.
“I love football and I love the FA Cup. This is raw, it’s real.
“We had a difficult first half. We knew it was going to be our most difficult game of the season and the first half proved that.
“We had to find a lot of character. Our young players will have learned a lot tonight and ultimately we found our way.”
Striker Bishop, who was celebrating his 26th birthday on Friday, added: “When you come to places like this, you know it’s going to be tough. You just have to weather the storm.
“In the second half, they got a bit tired and we worked the ball better.”
The game kicked off in poignant circumstances as both sets of players united for a minute’s silence to remember Radford, whose stunning strike helped Hereford to one of the most memorable Cup upsets of all-time against Newcastle in 1972.
And that was followed up by a subsequent round of applause in the 11th minute – matching the shirt number won by Radford – to celebrate the life of a player whose name will forever be indelibly etched in Emirates FA Cup folklore.
The visitors enjoyed the first real chance as Hereford goalkeeper Dale Eve thwarted Hackett, but it was the underdogs who took the lead when Storey pounced on 25 minutes.
The former England Under-19 international seized possession from Hackett in the Portsmouth half before coolly slotting home past goalkeeper Josh Griffiths.
But the away side were level just moments later when Hackett fired home after Ronan Curtis’ header.
Hereford sought to sway the momentum back in their favour at the start of the second half but Portsmouth soon grabbed the lead when Bishop guided a strong header into the far corner.
And Cowley’s side wrapped the contest up when Pigott slotted home with ten minutes remaining to ensure it was Portsmouth, who currently sit fifth in League One, who kept their name in the hat.
Elsewhere on Friday night, Sheffield Wednesday triumphed in the battle of the League One clubs as they beat Morecambe 2-0 at Hillsborough.
Josh Windass and Alex Mighten both netted either side of half-time as Derek Adams’ side, who sit 19 places below high-flying Wednesday in the division, were unable to get on the scoresheet.
Source: The Football Association