Pompey's victory will ignite hope of survival in the
Barclays Premier League.
The result also means Avram
Grant maintains his unbeaten record against Benitez
after posting two wins and two draws during his time at Chelsea in
the 2008 season.
Grant was thrilled to claim the scalp of Liverpool having narrowly
missed out to leaders Chelsea in midweek.
"Today we played like a team," he said. "From game to game we
are playing better and today we deserved the win.
"We played on Wednesday against a team in first place at home, and
we showed ourselves if we can do things well at the bottom of the
table we can still surprise the other team, and today it went
well."
Pompey midfielder Michael Brown added: "We've been
playing well in general. It was a fantastic result for
us. "It's a matter of getting some points and three points is
fantastic against a strong Liverpool team with a lot of talent.
It's an enjoyable day for us."
Grant is hopeful of adding to his squad during the January transfer
window, despite reports of financial uncertainty.
"I can only tell what will happen on the pitch, because off the
pitch I don't know," he said. "I am positive by nature so I
want to believe it will be okay.
"It's more easy to fight on the pitch and we will have a long
battle until the end of the season. "I said I am positive we
can make the team stronger. This squad is a good squad but we need
players to make this squad stronger because also we have the
African Cup of Nations.
"I will never understand what they are doing with this in the
middle of the season, coming back from heat to the cold. So we need
players."
