The 37-year-old former Totteham striker struck three minutes before half-time to produce a might roar at cramped Fratton Park.

Patrick Berger, who joined in the close season from Liverpool, added a fine second to seal Pompey’s first-ever Premiership points.

It was not quite that simple in the end. After missing first-half chances, Villa became toothless and taut and will have given new manager David O’Leary plenty of food for thought.

But they briefly threatened to spoil Portsmouth’s party with a contentious late penalty by Gareth Barry – until the England international was sent off soon after for swearing at a linesman.

Portsmouth, in the end, were good value for their historic win.

Boss Harry Redknapp introduced six new faces including free transfer goal scorers Sheringham and Berger but one of the biggest cheers was for Nigerian striker Yakubu Ayegbeni when he went off to be replaced by Vincent Pericard late on.

Villa’s Turkish defender Alpay, who rarely figured under Graham Taylor’s management and looked certain to be leaving in the summer, was involved in his side’s big first-half moments before Sheringham’s sweet strike.

Portsmouth, who had Dejan Stefanovic booked for a clumsy foul on Juan Pablo Angel after eight minutes, escaped when the bloodied Gavin McCann – stitched up after a clash of heads with Amdy Faye – led a break on Villa’s right and drifted a low cross towards Marcus Allback who just failed to make contact.

And Villa should again have gone ahead on 32 minutes when Alpay stole up field once more for a Barry free-kick and left Boris Zivkovic trailing only to put a tame unchallenged header wide of the near post.

At the other end Arjan de Zeeuw had a similar miss for Portsmouth, failing to direct his far-post header on target from Stone’s long cross, but then Shaka Hislop did well to keep out Barry’s fierce inswinger corner in the 38th minute with Angel challenging hard.

But three minutes later, Sheringham set Fratton Park alight with an opportunist goal that finished off powerful approach work by Berger and Ayegbini.

The latter’s shot was blocked by goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen but fell perfectly for Sheringham to hook into an unguarded net.

Villa could claim to be hard done by to be behind at half-time but Portsmouth were in control after the break.

Ayegbini forced Sorensen into a great save as he went in search of a second goal before Berger finally doubled the advantage, beating Ronny Johnsen on the edge of the area, holding off another challenge and slipping his shot between the goalkeeper’s legs.

Barry’s penalty could have meant a lot more had Angel not miskicked a clear chance in a rare spell of Villa pressure in the last 20 minutes, but the goalscorer’s dismissal ended all doubts over the outcome.