ONE beaming, almost bashful smile lit up a grey, soulless day at Eastlands, like a ray of sunshine.

On a day which chilled the bones, and in a match which dulled the senses, the return of Emmanuel Adebayor from the gates of hell to normality provided some warmth and comfort.

The Blues needed something to cheer them. The late, great disappointment of Wednesday's defeat at Old Trafford was still hanging in the air like a shroud.

This was never going to be a day of panache and dash, but one to negotiate, collect three points, and head home to recuperate.

The fact that Adebayor started the game, and fired in the opening goal of a poor game, was a reason to be cheerful.

It was just 23 days ago that the big, affable Togolese striker sat at a roadside in Angola, cradling a dying friend as machine-gun bullets chattered all around.

The trauma of that terrorist attack left him mentally dislocated, suffering from stress, and contemplating life itself, not the trivia of football.

As he made his way back to his native land to grieve in the arms of his family and bury the dead, there could be no thought of when he would return to Manchester.

It was an irrelevance, given the enormity of what had happened.

But life goes on, and it is important that Adebayor gets back to his business as soon as possible - and his business is scoring goals.

He hadn't done that since the opener against Chelsea back on December 5, and in the meantime Carlos Tevez has taken on the mantle with a staggering run of 14 in 13 games.

But Sunday's goal was less about winning a football match and more about relief, and any City fan disgruntled by a less than impressive City performance should remember the grief that lay behind that Adebayor smile.

The feeling in and around the stadium going into the game was pretty much the same as it had been in the immediate aftermath of the previous derby defeat, at Old Trafford in September.

Anguish

On that occasion, the Blues had a Carling Cup clash with a virtual Fulham second string on which to vent their anger, or at least ease their anguish.

The fans expected a torrent of goals to wash away the memories of that late 4-3 defeat, and the expectation was similar against a Pompey side whose football worries are only matched by their financial ones.

But sometimes, after such wearying emotion, and crushing loss, you just have to be grateful for a positive result.

So it was against Fulham in September, with a tedious extra-time win, and so it was here.

If Roberto Mancini could have hand-picked opponents for the next league fixture after that exhausting semi- final, Pompey would have been top of the list.

And when the first half ended with the Blues 2-0 up, that assessment was spot on.

You get the feeling that, for all the talent at his disposal, Mancini does not have the players he needs to play the type of game which he prefers to do.

He began with the diamond shape which he employed so effectively at Inter Milan, with Martin Petrov curiously at the tip, either by design or accident. That wasn't working, and Ireland took on the role, with a little more success.

When the Blues did go ahead, it was Ireland's perception, Pompey's clueless defence and a piece of excellent therapy for Emmanuel Adebayor which combined to make the breakthrough.

Ireland produced the only incisive pass of the half to free Adebayor, who took full advantage of the visitors' ropey attempt at an offside trap and produced an expert finish.

That eased the pressure a little and in time added in the first half, Vincent Kompany rose to brilliantly crash home a header from Petrov's corner and virtually put the game beyond Portsmouth.

Carlos Tevez underlined the fact that this was going to be an ordinary afternoon when he wriggled free in the box. From a Bellamy cross, and then hit the post from close range.

That denied him a goal which he would have celebrated by whipping off his shirt to reveal a T-shirt in support of Wayne Bridge.

That would have been another moment in which City - whose players pride themselves on being a `family' - could heal wounds which lie outside the game of football.

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