'It's time for Portsmouth to be nasty - and Sheffield United player scrap shows we're getting there'
Josh Murphy is convinced Pompey’s post-match skirmish epitomises ‘nasty side’ their performances require.
Freddie Potts’ 95th-minute foul sparked a large-scale confrontation between both sets of players, with even goalkeeper Will Norris charging upfield to take a tumble.
Amid it all, referee Matthew Donohue blew for full-time to signal a goalless draw, not that many of those inside the ground were aware of the final whistle.
For Murphy, the result reflected the Blues’ team spirit and determination to establish Fratton Park as a fearsome fortress - capped by that ‘little scrap’.
He told The News: ‘Hopefully this is us turning the corner now. We have spoken a lot about making Fratton Park really difficult for teams to come and I think we did that on Saturday.
‘Everyone was brilliant. The only thing now is just that end product and getting that goal, but I think that’s what we deserved against Sheffield United.
‘What happened at the end is what it’s about, there have been disappointing results but a lot of good performances and we typified it on Saturday. We were solid, everyone wants to be there for each other, and at the end everyone was there pulling together in that little scrap.
‘I don’t actually know what happened, it was a free-kick and we were just going to carry on, but obviously the game had finished.
‘We talked about being hard to beat and being a nasty side. Coming in at half-time and full-time, their players were quite disgruntled about how solid and resilient we were, which is good and a positive for us - we just need to now build on that.’
Blades keeper Michael Cooper pulled off a brilliant stop to deny Marlon Pack’s free-kick on the stroke of half-time, while Jacob Farrell should really have netted with a late header.
Instead, Pompey were indebted to three excellent stops from Will Norris, although Gustavo Hamer should have registered with a free header in the first half.
Still, the goalless draw ends a run of three successive defeats which had dropped John Mousinho’s men into the Championship relegation zone.
And Murphy is encouraged by their Sheffield United point.
He added: ‘As long as we stick together and pull in the right direction, then hopefully the three points are going to follow.’