Gaffer: Cheer up, Portsmouth will stay in the Championship if we keep doing that

What did you make of that?

We got a really good point against a side which is going to be there or thereabouts - and could have won it late on with Jacob Farrell’s header.

That is probably our best total performance for a while. We needed a clean sheet, we got that. We needed to get a point, we got that. There's a lot of promise there.

At times we looked very comfortable on the ball and we made a side which was in the Premier League look a bit panicky at the back at times, like we did at Burnley.

I think we’ve got better as we’ve gone on and that has come about because we’ve now got our first-team squad members back. We’ll be all right if we keep playing like that

That sounds very optimistic about the rest of the season!

Regan Poole was again outstanding, you wouldn’t have thought he'd been away for 10 months, Tom McIntyre is very calm and assured, Zak Swanson is doing a cracking job at right-back, and I believe Farrell will get better.

Freddie Potts has impressed me, he’s got the touch, a bit of guile to him, and complements Marlon Pack really well. Paddy Lane has done really well playing in that central role for a winger and I have been impressed with Josh Murphy.

The test for us will be next Saturday against Oxford United. We came up with them and let’s see how we perform against them.

Regardless of our start, regardless of their start, we were both League one sides and that will be a better judge of where we are rather than second from bottom with just four points.

What did you make about Farrell’s debut?

He had a nightmare in the first half, the only thing he knew about the bloke he was marking (Jesurun Rak-Sayki) was his name and his number because he kept looking at his back! He beat him every single time.

In the second half, they doubled up on Rak-Sayki, so Sheffield United didn’t give him the ball and they took him off. That has got to be either because he was injured, inexperienced or something.

Jacob looks a good player, but you’ve got to give him a couple of games. By next Saturday, if he’s still playing against Oxford, having played midweek, I think he’ll look a very different player.

Did Mark O’Mahony impress you on his full debut?

O’Mahony worked really, really hard. He didn’t have much luck against a giant centre-half, but he did so much running.

For a young lad making his first Championship debut, he kept his head up. I’d like us to put the ball over the top a bit more because he’s got some pace.

He was physical, unlike Christian Saydee who is physical because he just stands there and tries to be a wall. Whereas O’Mahony was chasing them down, running at them, putting the tackles in.

We are clearly lacking that little cutting edge in front of goal. It’s only when you see you play without Colby Bishop when you realise what Colby gives to us.

Will Norris - 9

Zak Swanson - 8

Regan Poole - 8

Tom McIntyre - 7

Jacob Farrell - 6

Marlon Pack - 7

Freddie Potts - 8

Sammy Silvera - 5

Paddy Lane - 7

Josh Murphy - 7

Mark O'Mahony - 8