Pompey marched to consecutive win number six and clean sheet number six against Sheffield United this afternoon thanks to a single goal from hero Hermann Hreidarsson.
Match reaction
Blades boss Micky Adams said he was happy with the effort his side put in and thought they deserved more. ‘sloppy defending from a corner cost us again` he told BBC Radio Sheffield ‘we put some decent balls into their box but could told get on the end of them. We bossed the game for the last twenty five minutes of the first half and most of the second. Now we have to move on to another cup final with Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night`.
Pompey manager Steve Cotterill meanwhile was understandably upbeat after his side reached fifty points with eleven games left of the season. It means his side can now forget about relegation and try to finish as high in the table as possible.
Cotterill said: ‘That was just the ticket. It`s another win. It was a difficult game. Sheffield United are fighting for their lives. We knew we would have a lot of big balls and there was no room for error.
If we had taken our chances we could have been three-up early on. We looked a bit like we had played a lot of games. However, we`re getting the clean sheets and that`s what the success has been built on.`
‘I suppose life is made of dreams. We always dream about something or other. Our supporters will be buoyant. It’s fantastic that their expectations now are to look up the table rather than looking over our shoulders. That`s nice and puts us in good frame of mind at what is starting to become a healthy football club again. It`s a happier and more relaxed place at this moment in time.’`
In truth the game was totally forgettable with Pompey unable to stamp their authority on the game after Hermann`s 24th minute opener. Hermann who was made an honorary member of the Scandinavian supporters club after the match was happy as he told the official site “We pride ourselves on clean sheets, so to have six in a row now is fantastic,” said Hreidarsson. “Six wins and 18 points means we`re now looking at the right half of the table.
“I`m pleased with the goal. Kitson did well to go up for the header. I think it dropped just behind him and obviously I`m deadly from six yards!
We lost our grip on the game in the second half but we just had to dig out the victory – and that`s what we did.
I love being out there and enjoying a battle. It`s always nice to play at Fratton Park because the atmosphere is helpful.
At the time of my injury it was difficult and I felt like it might have been the last game but I`ve done the hard work to recover and I`m just enjoying playing football again.
I had a bad injury and now I`m over it – I don’t really think about it anymore.”
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