Curbishley has had more than four years to come up with the present Charlton side brimful of precocious youth that is no

Curbishley has had more than four years to come up with the present Charlton side, brimful of precocious youth that is no doubt on its way elsewhere. It may be a brief flirtation - unless, or even if, they sustain their present run of First Division form all the way to promotion - but it will certainly be one of winter's more pleasant diversions. By eliminating Sheffield Wednesday from this year's FA Cup, they paraded the traditional mixture of desire, style and bloody-mindedness, in that order if not necessarily in equal quantities. Not the least welcome aspect of the result was the manner in which it was greeted by both managers. Alan Curbishley of Charlton did not gloat; David Pleat of Wednesday did not moan.It may be as well for the respective fans to react similarly. Portsmouth: Butters, Walsh, Pethick Simpson, Hall.Man of the match: Monkou.Attendance: 15,236..

Charlton Athletic 2 Sheffield Wednesday 0 Unsung and unheralded, except by fans whose numbers are often so few that they can make The Valley still seem like a gigantic stadium, Charlton Athletic are about to be unveiled before a somewhat larger audience. Substitute not used: Thomson.Referee: M Bodenham (Looe, Cornwall)Bookings: Southampton: Le Tissier, Venison, McDonald. Substitute not used: Bennett.Portsmouth (4-4-2): Knight; Pethick, Gittens, Butters, Stimson; Durnin, McLoughlin, Simpson, Wood (Carter, 51); Walsh, Hall (Burton, 65). However, it was all much too late by the time Le Tissier gallivanted along the byline to allow Neil Shipperley to secure an assured victory.Southampton (4-4-2): Beasant; Neilson, Dodd, Monkou, Charlton; Le Tissier, Magilton, Venison, Heaney (McDonald, 45); Shipperley, Watson (Maddison 80). Eventually he shot from the area's edge and the ball was parried by an unfortunate Alan Knight into the path of Magilton.Portsmouth were not dispirited, and Paul Hall was denied only by Beasant's dive.

Had Jimmy Carter or Fitzroy Simpson scored in the 64th minute, as both should have done amid some frenetic goalmouth activity, it might have been different. The Pompey defenders stood off, reluctant to commit themselves while Le Tissier threatened to do several things with the ball. But he was instrumental in beginning the series of bookings two minutes later when Guy Butters made an early and, as it turned out, successful bid for foul of the match by carving into him.Seconds after the interval, Le Tissier strode with the ball for some 50 yards after receiving it directly from goalkeeper Dave Beasant. He was occasionally slipshod but, then, he often conveys that impression However, he was also delightful. He was not involved in the first goal, bustled in by Jim Magilton in the 12th minute, seconds after Pompey had a valid penalty appeal refused.

They might frequently have found Portsmouth irksome but they defended calmly and swiftly punished sloppy errors in the opposition area.To the neutral eye, one of an entertaining match's blessings was a return to something like form of Matthew Le Tissier. Southampton were fully worth their advance into the fourth round. All fairly mundane stuff for this sort of contest. Derby matches between Southampton and Portsmouth are rare - there have been only 29 in all - because they have spent so much time in different divisions, but the fervour which accompanies them is beyond question. The kick-off was slightly delayed to sort out a fracas in the crowd, the players spent the next 90 minutes being perpetually roared on, gorging craters in shins and pulling shirts out of shape. There were eight bookings and three goals, and there could easily have been more of both. Stockport: Helliwell (84).Man of the match: Beaumont.Attendance: 28,921.. Southampton 3 Portsmouth 0 It was all there at The Dell yesterday.

Substitute not used: Kearton (gk).Stockport (4-4-2): Edwards; Connelly, Flynn, Bound, Todd; Beaumont (Chalk, 77), Bennett (Dinning, 88), Eckhardt, Jeffers; Armstrong, Helliwell Substitute not used: Dickins (gk).Referee: G Poll (Tring).Bookings: Everton: Limpar (46). Todd's early ball released Beaumont on the right and his cross eluded Watson. Helliwell, advancing unattended, met the ball with a lunging header to beat Southall.Goals: Stuart (7) 1-0; Armstrong (31) 1-1; Ablett (43) 2-1; Helliwell (61) 2-2.Everton (4-2-2-2): Southall; Jackson, Watson, Ablett, Unsworth; Horne, Ebbrell (Hinchcliffe, 81); Kanchelskis, Limpar (Grant, 66); Stuart, Rideout. We were awful and they played very well."It all seemed so straightforward for Everton when they went ahead in the seventh minute. Neville Southall's clearance deceived Stockport's defence but not Graham Stuart, who darted beyond the back line and volleyed past Neil Edwards.But Stockport's confidence was rewarded after 31 minutes. Tom Bennett chipped the ball up to the far post, Ian Helliwell headed back, and Alun Armstrong scored from the rebound.Everton were down to 10 men at the time, John Ebbrell having stitches put in a gashed leg, and were a player short again when they retrieved the lead two minutes before half-time when, with Edwards under pressure, the ball fell for Gary Ablett.Edwards made a fine save from Kanchelskis and Lee Todd blocked Watson's header on the line before Stockport emerged from the trenches again to storm another equaliser.