AN electrifying second-half hat-trick from Portsmouth's Lomana Lua Lua stole the show as Cherries suffered a 4-1 defeat to their south coast neighbours.

In a fixture that once again illustrated the gap between the Premiership haves' and the Football League have nots', Harry Redknapp's side took 45 minutes to find their feet, but predictably ran out winners as Kevin Bond continues to piece together his squad for the new season.

Lua Lua's treble and Niko Kranjcar's effort did the damage for Pompey, while Brett Pitman's late penalty gave the home supporters something to cheer about as they made their way home.

Although the first half was instantly forgettable as a spectacle, it did at least show that Cherries have the makings of becoming a very sound defensive unit ahead of the new League One campaign.

Josh Gowling, Paul Telfer and Jason Pearce stuck to their tasks manfully, while trialist Ryan Garry is certainly no shrinking violet when it comes to making tackles.

While his tag-team partner, Marvin Bartley, was caught in a challenge with Hermann Hreidarsson and saw his evening curtailed by a wrist injury, Garry appears to have something about him and could add some much-needed strength to Kevin Bond's squad numbers.

With chances at a premium, Portsmouth predictably dominated possession, while Cherries used the first 45 minutes as an opportunity to work on their defensive shape.

With Bond's two banks of four proving particularly hard to penetrate, even Portuguese midfielder Pedro Mendes - who was the dominant figure of the opening half - was unable to unlock any kind of space for the expensively-assembled front duo of John Utaka and David Nugent.

Neil Moss had the grand total of zero shots to save - his only real work being a loose backpass that threatened to stir him from his deckchair before a couple of routine corner collections.

On the break, Cherries showed glimpses of danger with Darren Anderton orchestrating and Jo Kuffour's pace occasionally unsettling the Pompey defenders.

One such combination saw the former England man slide through a beautifully-weighted pass, only for the ex-Brentford striker to blaze the shot over Jamie Ashdown's goal, under pressure from the hulking Noe Pamarot.

In fact, the diminutive Kuffour could have been forgiven for thinking he'd been thrown into a fixture against a Land of the Giants Select XI with Hreidarsson, Pamarot and Andy O'Brien the kind of guys you'd especially like to avoid in a dark alley.

The second half, however, was a far more entertaining affair with Lua Lua and Benjani giving the Premiership side a cutting edge that they had been lacking for the opening 45 minutes of tedium.

It was skilful Croatian Krancjar, who opened the scoring with a deflected shot that nestled its way into Moss's bottom corner via a Cherries shirt four minutes after the break, that finally brought the game to life.

Cherries attempted to hit back as Anderton provided a glorious cross for Kuffour, only for the striker to mistime his header, while Brett Pitman's sharp turn and shot was safely gathered by sub keeper Amir Begovic.

But then came the Lua Lua show. The Congolese striker has seen his career flounder over the past two seasons with a series of injuries and off-field problems affecting his football.

However, he has apparently lost none of the unpredictable ability as he fed off Benjani's pass and drilled a low shot into the far corner that Moss could only get a hand to.

With space beginning to appear in the Cherries defence, Lua Lua was at it again soon afterwards, shrugging off challenges and skipping through to toe-poke beyond Moss.

And he completed a cracking treble with a glorious finish as he ran at Neil Young and then bent a terrific dipping shot past a helpless Moss to the joy of the visiting supporters.

Cherries did, however, manage to pull back a late consolation as Brett Pitman tucked away a penalty after he was felled in the box by Christophe Jean Francois's high boot.

The on-trial Pompey man, who turned out for Cherries at Oxford and may yet return to Dean Court, perhaps was a little confused by his comings and goings and thought he'd hand his potential new team-mates a helping hand.