A sell-out crowd of 18,181 were at Fratton Park to see 10-man Portsmouth lose their season opener to Oxford United.
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That impressive figure saw the South Coast club set a new League Two attendance record, but the majority of those supporters went home disappointed.
That dejection was only heightened by the fact that Pompey had started the match very brightly.
The hosts took the lead on 25 minutes when summer arrival Patrick Agyemang marked his debut by heading home from Andy Barcham's whipped left-footed cross.
Oxford were level within just nine minutes. The equaliser was scored by Deane Smalley, but Alfie Potter deserved the majority of the credit.
The ex-Peterborough midfielder ran almost the entire length of the pitch before squaring to Smalley, who took a neat first touch and finished well from 10 yards.
Potter was on the scoresheet himself four minutes later, as he smashed Sean Rigg's low cross into the net from close range.
Portsmouth's difficult task become even tougher just before the hour mark, when Johannes Ertl was shown a straight red card for elbowing Danny Rose.
The task was then made almost impossible on 64 minutes, as man-of-the-match Potter bagged his second goal of the game with an impressive solo effort.
Smalley scored his second to complete the rout with 18 minutes remaining, tapping in from close range following more good work from Potter.
Robert Summerscales
