Defoe is in his pomp again with penalties

Defoe has a particularly bad penalty memory from earlier in the season, though. While playing for Tottenham, against his first club, West Ham, in November, he had an injury-time effort saved by Robert Green when the score was 1-1.

But the England striker said that the humiliation at Upton Park did not enter his mind.

'When you've missed one, you don't think about it,' said Defoe. 'It's a different occasion with a new club. It's all different, isn't it? I was confident stepping up.

'I've been practising penalties in training. Before the Chelsea game recently, we were in the dressing room and the gaffer asked who fancied the penalties. I didn't say anything but I think he knew. As we got the penalty, the lads looked at me and that was it. I knew what I had to do. It was just a case of trying to relax. I said to myself that I was just going to pick my spot and hit it hard.'

Portsmouth were awarded their penalty after Phil Bardsley fouled Kranjcar — and they needed it badly.

Before that, they had shown little of the guile that would break down a negative Sunderland team who played a deep-sitting 4-5-1.

Sunderland midfielders Dickson Etuhu and Dean Whitehead had halted a succession of uninventive Portsmouth attacks with their biting challenges, while Grant Leadbitter did a sound job of man-marking danger man Lassana Diarra.

But things opened up when Kanu was brought on for the dire Milan Baros after 64 minutes. Defoe said: 'They are a strong side and well organised. But we were the better side throughout, especially towards the end. When we got the penalty I was delighted. I knew we would win the game after that.

'Earlier, it was difficult for me and Milan, especially in the first half, because they got a lot of bodies behind the ball. I was saying to the boys: "Try to get the ball out wide and get crosses in the box" because that was the only way we could get through them. Kanu is a great player who is strong and he came on and held it up well for us.'

With Defoe cup-tied for the FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester United in a fortnight, Redknapp is planning to give Kanu the chance to weave his magic at Old Trafford. That means the Nigeria striker will be rested for Portsmouth's game at Everton on Sunday.

Defoe and Kanu may soon start games together, though, because Benjani's departure has ruled out the option of Redknapp playing one up front.

The Portsmouth boss said: 'Playing Defoe up front on his own is not an ideal option, whereas Benjani could do that. We might have to change how we play a bit.'

Sunderland boss Roy Keane was seething. He said: 'It didn't matter who we were playing because we would never have scored. We had one lapse and got punished and we've had that far too many times this season. We cannot be victims all the time.'

It was no surprise that Keane was so angry to succumb in this manner at Portsmouth, considering their home record. In their previous 10 Barclays Premier League games at Fratton Park, Pompey had failed to score in seven of them.

Keane added: 'I'm sure David James had one of the easiest afternoons of his career. Even when you go one down, you are still in it. You just need a chance. While you fancied Defoe to score for them, you never fancied us. Maybe one or two of my players were overawed by one or two Pompey players. You shouldn't be collecting players' autographs.'