‘Never put us to bed’: Sheffield United boss makes clear Portsmouth admission after Fratton Park defeat
Pompey fell to a frustrating 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United at Fratton Park on Saturday.
Chris Wilder has made it clear Pompey didn’t do enough to put Sheffield United threat his Sheffield United defences.
And the head coach has praised the Blades for their strong mentality to claim a last-minute winner on the south coast.
John Mousinho’s men controlled the first half proceedings at Fratton before the visitors regained momentum late in the contest.
Pompey fall to frustrating Sheff Utd defeat
And the Steel City outfit stole the show at the death, with Andre Brooks bundling the ball in on the goal line on 90 minutes.
Pompey did, though, have plenty opportunities of their own, with the likes of Adrian Segecic, Ebou Adams and Terry Devlin squandering chances.
Despite Colby Bishop having a first-half goal chalked off, the Blues totalled 23 shots throughout the 90 minutes but were unable to put the Blades to the sword.
The defeat drops Pompey down to 21st and are now just one point above Leicester City, who currently occupy the final relegation spot.
And while Wilder stressed Mousinho’s men did win the battle in the opening 45 minutes, the Sheffield United boss lauded his side’s mentality to snatch the win at the death.
Sheffield United boss’ verdict after Pompey triumph
He told our sister paper, The Star: ‘It was maybe a case of mentality over control and us imposing ourselves. They were better at what they did first half than we were. But they never put us to bed and we grew into the game second half. At half-time, we talked about it. We can do a little bit better.
‘I'm not sure they could do any better than that. We knew the game would settle down a little bit and it did. We started to impose ourselves, with Kalvin [Phillips, making his United full debut] in the middle of the park.
‘It was a really tough one to get chucked into because of the pace and the nature of the game and the intensity of it. Their two midfield players were all over our midfield players. They won that battle in the first half.
‘Kalvin gave us an opportunity to start finding passes and getting out, always knowing that the opposition are dangerous. Maybe I would have took a point with 10 minutes to go. That’s not being negative, because this is a difficult place to come. To get a winner is brilliant for everybody, especially our travelling fans.
‘We had to dig a little bit deeper. It's just Championship football at times, right the way through. I said it all along, in 46 games, there are some games you play really well and you win, some games where you dig in and get a result.
‘And some games where you're a little bit off of it. Maybe we were a little bit off of it today but to get something for these games is what it’s all about in the Championship.’