Poll, who is retiring from top-level football at 43, robbed Pompey of a place in the UEFA Cup when he chalked off Niko Kranjcar's 68th-minute strike against Arsenal with an offside ruling few in the 20,000-plus crowd could understand.

The Croatia midfielder netted after the ball fell to him in a goalmouth scramble off the body of Arsenal's Switzerland defender Philippe Senderos.

But Poll, after consulting linesman Darren Cann - who did not raise his flag - ruled Kranjcar earned possession via team-mate Richard Hughes, which placed him offside.

Another Fratton Park win would have meant Pompey finishing seventh in the Barclays Premiership instead of ninth and Poll was unsurprisingly not afforded an appreciative send-off by the home fans.

But a surprisingly philosophical Redknapp said: "It was a good goal but what can I do? The referee ruled it offside but it wasn't.

"Nobody wanted to get into the UEFA Cup more than me but it's been a great season here and now we've got to prepare for the next one. I think it is going to be the toughest for years.

"Somebody asked me what my ambition is for next year and I said just to make sure we stay in the Premiership.

"There are big clubs like Birmingham and Sunderland coming up who are going to have a right go.

"West Ham are never going to be down there again, Newcastle won't be in the position they are again next season and Aston Villa are improving - with big backers."

Redknapp recently warned he would need 10 extra players if Pompey made it into the UEFA Cup. He is still thinking along the lines of at least six.

He said: "The money is there although you are not going to sign somebody like Ronaldo."

But he admitted he is keen on Manchester City centre back Silvain Distin on a free transfer and will also try to persuade owner Sacha Gaydamak to pay huge wages to land out-of-contract Middlesbrough striker Mark Viduka.

Arsenal will need an injection of star players, too - even though manager Arsene Wenger is adamant he wants to keep faith with his kids.

There were plenty of them in the token side he fielded at Fratton Park, where Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie, Gilberto, Tomas Rosicky, Jens Lehmann, Emmanuel Adebayor and William Gallas were all missing.

Even so, Arsenal should have had the points wrapped up at half-time, five minutes before which Real Madrid loanee Julio Baptista contrived his worst miss of at least four gilt-edged chances when he saw Pompey keeper David James spectacularly save his penalty.

Baptista now looks certain to be sent back to Madrid, although Arsenal must decide what to do about Jose Antonio Reyes, who went to Real in an exchange-loan deal.

Wenger said: "All that will be decided next week."