Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder was honest in his assessment of a below-par performance as his side snatched a 2-1 win against Portsmouth at Bramall Lane.
Substitute Jesurun Rak-Sakyi’s 73rd-minute winner saw the Blades cut the gap on Championship leaders Leeds to two points after Gustavo Hamer’s opener had been cancelled out by Pompey’s Connor Ogilvie in the first half.
Portsmouth created a number of clear-cut chances but were unable to punish the home side, who held on for an undeserved win, in Wilder’s view.
“I don’t think we deserved anything from the game,” Wilder said. “We were second-best all over the park.
“We need to be better, but there hasn’t been many times this year where we’ve had that feeling.
“I felt maybe the team just didn’t realise what Championship football is all about. Portsmouth outran us, they outfought us, they won more first and second balls. And that allowed them to control the game.
“First half we should have been two or three down. We defended really poorly, everybody individually and as a unit. We didn’t see out corner runs, we didn’t stop crosses, we didn’t defend inside the goal. If they had been more clinical then they would have put us to bed.
“Second half was a bit better. We had the luxury of being able to change it around, which we haven’t, and brought about parity. Bringing on Rhian Brewster and Rak-Sakyi gave us a little bit of a spark and a bit of life.
“So we’re second best, didn’t deserve anything in the game, but I’ve got a wonderful, beautiful habit of winning games of football.”
Portsmouth manager John Mousinho believed the result should not take away from one of his side’s “best performances of the season”.
“I was delighted with the performance,” Mousinho said. “We just didn’t put the ball in the back of the net and that’s the only criticism I have of the boys.
“I’ve been trying to instil into the lads all season that they need to have the belief that they belong at the level. If that doesn’t give them the belief then I don’t know what will, because we’ve taken Burnley all the way last week and probably should have won the game in the back end of it.
“I thought we deserved to win the game today. I thought we were the better side.
“We didn’t in the end, we didn’t put the ball in the back of the net and that’s fine, but my take is if we play like that for the rest of the season, then we’ll be absolutely fine. The key is that consistency.
“I thought there were a couple of difficult chances in the first half, the ones that got flashed across the face of the goal.
“Connor Ogilvie and Callum Lang’s end up looking like open goals, but they’re difficult chances. I think Colby (Bishop) will definitely want to put the ball in the back of the net on another occasion.
“So we can definitely be better, but goalscoring hasn’t really been the issue for us this year. Today it was, this year it’s been defensive solidity, particularly away from home.
“I thought we looked a really good outfit today in terms of the press and in terms of being solid defensively.”
