Key Takeaways
- Adrian Segecic scored his first English league hat-trick as Portsmouth beat Stoke 3-1.
- The win is Portsmouth’s first away to Stoke since 1995 and guarantees Stoke an eighth straight bottom-half finish.
- Portsmouth end relegation worries and head into the final match week with confidence.
Portsmouth’s Adrian Segecic stole the show at the bet365 Stadium, firing three goals to hand his side a 3-1 victory over Stoke City. The 21-year-old’s first-ever hat-trick in English football also ended a 29-year wait for Pompey to win away at Stoke.
Segecic opened the scoring on 32 minutes, sweeping home Harvey Blair’s pass. Stoke levelled two minutes after the break when Lamine Cisse headed in a corner, but the Australian-born Croatian restored the lead in the 66th minute, tapping in after Josh Murphy’s low cross.
With eight minutes left, Segecic completed the treble, curling a 20-yard left-foot shot into the net to seal the points. The strike took his season tally to nine and made him the visitors’ top scorer.
Stoke, who briefly sat second in the table earlier this campaign, have now gone six years without a top-half finish since their 2018 relegation from the Premier League. Portsmouth, safe from relegation, celebrated in front of nearly 3,000 travelling supporters and will finish the campaign away from the drop zone.