Portsmouth setting sights on Sheffield United to help soften derby day pain after defeat to Southampton
Portsmouth boss John Mousinho looks head to Sheffield United clash after disappointing derby day result
Portsmouth manager John Mousinho is looking for a reaction against Sheffield United to ‘repay’ fans after suffering derby defeat on Sunday.
Pompey, who welcome the Blades to Fratton Park on Wednesday night, suffered a 1-0 loss to fierce rivals Southampton at St Mary’s on Sunday, despite the Saints playing the entire second half with ten men.
The home side’s midfielder Cameron Bragg was sent off in the 44th minute after being shown a second yellow card.
The Saints were already 1-0 up at the time of Bragg’s dismissal, but Pompey didn’t show enough quality in front of goal to level the match.
Mousinho praised the support of Pompey fans and is now looking towards Wednesday to help soften the blow.
Mousinho said: “The only thing we can do for the fans now is try to win the game on Wednesday. We need to attack that game and repay their faith.
“You always get disappointments, and this is going to be a really gutting loss for the supporters.
“I know the fans will be devastated, so we need to try to repay them on Wednesday.”
“Even if we do get the result Wednesday, this should sting now until we get to the return fixture,” he added.
The Blades will be travelling down south with a spring in their step after a confidence-boosting 3-0 victory against Lincoln City at Bramall Lane on Saturday afternoon.
United now sit 14th in the table, two points off the play-off places.
Since Portsmouth’s promotion to the Championship in 2024, they have failed to beat Sheffield United on four occasions.
United have won three out of their last four meetings with Pompey, with the latest being a 1-0 victory at Fratton Park on February 14 earlier this year.
The Blades managed a double against Portsmouth last season as they also cruised to a 3-0 victory at Bramall Lane last November.