Goals from Conor Shaughnessy and Marko Milovanovic either side of half-time saw Portsmouth climb to mid-table in the Championship, as Cardiff remained winless and dropped into the bottom three.

The visitors started strongly at Fratton Park, with Krystian Bielik and Chris Willock coming close in the opening stages.

Portsmouth's first real sight of goal came on 20 minutes, as Tyrese Shade's cross found Abu Kamara whose effort was blocked straight to the feet of Adrian Segecic, but the 22-year-old was denied by Nathan Trott.

A minute later down the other end Jack Moylan burst into the Portsmouth box, but the Cardiff summer signing lost his balance before pulling the trigger, and the resulting shot dribbled through to Daniel Bielica.

The end-to-end action continued, and Kamara's cross to back post found Milovanovic only for the striker's headed drifted narrowly past the post.

But Portsmouth's pressure eventually told, as a long through from Shade found the head of Shaughnessy, whose header was perfectly cushioned into the bottom corner to give the hosts the lead at the break.

The first chance of the second half fell the way of the visitors as Chris Willock found Ollie Tanner at the back post, but the Bluebirds winger could only hit the side netting with his header.

Cardiff were left to rue their missed opportunity a minute later, as Portsmouth went down the other end and Milovanovic was left unmarked in the six-yard box to tap home Kamara's square ball.

Cardiff had a number of chances to halve the deficit in the following five minutes, but Bielica was equal to efforts from Ollie Tanner, Yousef Salech and Moylan.

Milovanovic thought he had put the result beyond doubt on 62 minutes as he headed past Trott into the top corner, only to be denied by the offside flag.

The biggest drama in the closing stages came off the field, as Bielik got into an altercation with a Portsmouth fan while trying to get the ball back in a hurry for a throw in.

And it was the hosts who came closest to a late goal, as Kamara turned three Cardiff defenders before crashing an effort onto the crossbar.

But the result was already beyond doubt, as Portsmouth's second win of the season sees them climb to 13th in the Championship table.

Cardiff's early-season struggles continue, as Brian Barry-Murphy's side drop into the bottom three, still without a win in the opening five games.

Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent:

"I'm delighted with the result, and it's a bit of a relief, I think, with how the game went and off the back of a tough week.

"I think the performances have been ok but I don't want to be revisionist on anything.

"We have dominated games and not had enough at the top end of the pitch, and today was the opposite.

"We didn't dominate in terms of possession; we probably conceded too much. Overall, I'm really pleased, and we've shown that we can win in a different way."

Cardiff head coach Brian Barry-Murphy told BBC Radio Wales:

"We didn't play well enough in the first half as a team, it's been a disappointing week naturally when you lose two games in close succession.

"In the second half we created good chances but didn't take them.

"We all want to play well, but we're human. We started off the game well but then we gave away the ball too much, and it was the same on Wednesday that you then become vulnerable to the counter-attack.

"We'll bounce back tomorrow, show up on Monday and give it everything on Tuesday [against Stoke] to try and win."

Portsmouth can now enjoy a midweek off before returning to action next Saturday at Charlton Athletic (15:00 BST).

The Bluebirds, meanwhile, return to Cardiff City Stadium as they welcome Stoke City on Tuesday evening (19:45 BST).