Fleetwood remain six points from safety after holding mid-table Bristol Rovers to a 0-0 draw at Highbury Stadium.

Danny Mayor should have put the hosts 1-0 up after Promise Omochere showed his strength to square to his midfield partner, who was denied by a desperate block from Luca Hoole.

With the best chance of the game, Antony Evans had a one-on-one opportunity to break the deadlock on the stroke of the break. The Gas midfielder could only hit straight at home goalkeeper Jay Lynch.

Scott Sinclair fired low three minutes into the second half, which was smartly stopped by Lynch as the away side pressed, while former Rovers man Ryan Broom acrobatically volleyed wide for Fleetwood.

Gavin Kilkenny rattled the woodwork on the hour when the ball fell kindly to the Bournemouth loanee from the edge of the box, with Jed Ward beaten all ends up.

Elkan Baggott scrambled a trickling effort off the line as Fleetwood dominated in second-half spells without breakthrough.

Rovers hit the post in the closing stages after a deflected Evans free-kick ricocheted wide.

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho admitted the Sky Bet League One leaders were below their best after being held to a frustrating 1-1 draw at home by lowly Fleetwood.

Colby Bishop’s penalty goal on his return from injury was not enough to earn Pompey all three points.

A visibly unhappy Mousinho said: “It was totally frustrating today.

“I thought we controlled the game in the first half and just about deserved to go in a goal up.

“We again didn’t have the quality in the final third to put the ball in the net and in the first 20 minutes of the second half we were awful.

“We were on the back foot, the passing was poor, the crossing was abysmal, and we got punished for it.

“We picked up a bit after the equalizer but looked vulnerable when they counter-attacked.

“It’s difficult to put a finger on anything in particular about what was wrong today. Although not an acceptable defence, it was like we were not playing a ‘Bolton’, and just took our foot off the pedal and switched off.

“We’re all better than that, and the players can perform a lot better. We now need to step up a gear on Boxing Day at Bristol Rovers.”

There was very little for the fans to cheer about in the opening 45 minutes, but it was in added time that Pompey took the lead.

They were lethargic from the start with very little imagination against a defensively minded Fleetwood.

Half chances from Abu Kamara, who hit a post in the 40th minute, were the best they could produce.

Then a handball in the box gave Bishop the chance to increase his goal tally for the season to 12, which he did comfortably.

Fleetwood came out with more urgency and unexpectedly equalised in the 61st minute.

A corner caused a scramble in Pompey’s six-yard box, and Josh Earl stabbed the ball home.

Chance after chance went begging for Pompey, but they just could not find the winner.

Fleetwood manager Lee Johnson said: “It was a really charismatic performance from the team. They followed the game plan to perfection really.

“We know how good Pompey are, but we have a lot of strength and athleticism, and put a real shift in.

“We felt there were a lot of poor refereeing decisions out there today.

“It was disappointing to go a goal down right on half-time, but everyone rallied round in the dressing room, and we responded well.

“We’ve got 13 players out, and the academy made eight players available for the squad, so it shows we have depth at the club and can compete on any given day.

“It was good to stem the flow of results we’ve had recently, especially against a team riding the wave at the top, and we could have gone on to win it near the end if we had made the right decision on the ball.”

Martyn Waghorn scored for the second time in four days to give Derby a 1-0 win over Fleetwood that ended a run of three home defeats.

Derby swarmed all over Fleetwood from the start and got the goal their dominance deserved in the 23rd minute.

Conor Washington’s shot was deflected to Waghorn, who swivelled to send a low shot inside Jay Lynch’s left post.

Danny Mayor fired over as Fleetwood responded and Derby survived a scare in the 45th minute when Jayden Stockley headed against Joe Wildsmith’s right post.

It was a reminder that Derby needed a second and they went close several times at the start of the second half through Liam Thompson and substitute James Collins.

But Fleetwood almost equalised in the 72nd minute when Promise Omochere’s header was tipped against the bar by Wildsmith, who pushed away a Junior Quitirna shot six minutes later.

Quitirna flashed a ball across the six-yard box in stoppage time but Derby held on for their second win of the season.

Bolton boss Ian Evatt was sent off for “misuse of technology” after Victor Adeboyejo’s first-half hat-trick set-up the League One leaders’ 3-1 win over Fleetwood.

Northern Ireland international Dion Charles was also dismissed by referee Tom Nield for a caution in each half.

Charles was the first to receive his marching orders after 69 minutes following a clash with Town keeper Jay Lynch.

Evatt followed five minutes later and under this season’s new regulations was unable to take his post-match press conference.

Instead, assistant manager Peter Atherton explained: “We saw Dion come alongside the keeper who stuck out his leg and tripped Dion.

“What he saw was very different to what we saw and unfortunately for Dion it was a second yellow.”

After watching on a pitchside monitor, Atherton added Evatt then drew the incident to the fourth official’s attention.

“The gaffer said he had seen it back. There was no misconduct in terms of abusive language.

“He just said, ‘I have seen it back and you got it wrong. From just referring to saying he had seen it back, that is a red card.”

Bolton fans’ anger was heightened by an incident last season against Forest Green Rovers when Nield mistakenly dismissed Charles instead of former team-mate Elias Kachunga.

On the plus side was Adeboyejo’s first hat-trick since his move from Burton.

“Last year Dion was the main goal scorer,” said Atherton.

“But we have said we have to share (goals) among the team.

“Vic has worked hard on the training ground and it’s nice to see him get the rewards with the hat-trick.”

Fleetwood have picked up only one point from their first three games and were also knocked out of the League Cup,

Josh Earl scored a stoppage-time consolation though home goalie Nathan Baxter twice denied Bolton old boy Josh Vela and a Scott Robertson free-kick.

Manager Scott Brown said: “It starts tough because we lost a goal after three minutes. They get that momentum.

“They had great shape and great structure behind and in front of the ball.

“It’s that bit of quality in the final third they had that was a lot better than we had.

“Their wing-backs were bolting in behind, first-time deliveries across the goal and their striker wanted it more and was switched on more than our defenders.

“It comes down to desire but also ruthlessness. They had that ruthlessness and we didn’t.

“The ball was a magnet to him .We had five defenders in the box at one point circulating him and he found the space.

“We had a few chances we probably should have scored off but we end up scoring off a corner in the 94th minute. We didn’t give ourselves a chance.”

Victor Adeboyejo netted a first-half hat-trick but strike partner Dion Charles and manager Ian Evatt were sent off as leaders Bolton beat Fleetwood 3-1 in League One.

The former Burton star became only the second Wanderers player in nine years to score a treble, firing the Trotters towards a third consecutive league victory.

Paris Maghoma claimed assists for his team-mate’s first two goals after three and 14 minutes, while a third right-wing cross from Josh Dacre-Cogley was also converted by Adeboyejo eight minutes from the interval.

Bolton’s win was soured by referee Tom Nield’s dismissal of Northern Ireland international Charles.

Last January, Nield mistakenly sent off Charles instead of then team-mate Elias Kachunga in Bolton’s win over Forest Green.

This time he booked Charles for a first-half stoppage-time foul and cautioned him again for clashing with ex-Wanderers’ keeper Jay Lynch in the 69th minute.

Five minutes later Evatt followed after protesting too vehemently over a Fleetwood challenge.

The 10-man eventually conceded their first goal of the campaign to Josh Earl’s stoppage-time consolation.

Cambridge continued their winning start to the League One season with a 2 -0 victory over Fleetwood.

Fleetwood started well dominating possession and putting Cambridge under pressure, but they could not make it count.

It was the visitors who opened the scoring just after 30 minutes, with Saikou Janneh’s shot parried into the path of Paul Digby who tapped in the rebound.

Fleetwood almost equalised after the break, but Jack Marriott’s shot was well saved by Jack Stevens.

Cambridge eventually doubled their lead on the hour mark, with Gassan Ahadme towering over the Fleetwood defence to head home a corner.

The Cod Army responded by making further substitutions, which led to a few half chances, but they never troubled Stevens.

Scott Brown’s side continued to push, but the six minutes of added time was not enough to get them back into it.

Cambridge managed to hold on continuing a dream start for Mark Bonner’s side who only avoided relegation last season on the final day.