Regan Poole on the 3-0 defeat has admitted Portsmouth must drastically improve their set-piece defending after corner-kick vulnerabilities proved costly once again in the heavy loss at Bramall Lane on Tuesday evening.
Set-pieces proved Portsmouth’s undoing as the Blues suffered a comprehensive 3-0 defeat against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.
A corner led to Terry Devlin’s dismissal for a handball offence, with Sydie Peck converting the resulting penalty to give the Blades the lead. Another corner situation saw Patrick Bamford extend the hosts’ advantage in the second half, before Gustavo Hamer’s quality finish sealed the victory.
Centre-back Regan Poole has acknowledged that Pompey’s defensive frailties from dead-ball situations must be addressed urgently if the club is to improve their Championship position.
“We were well and truly in the game up until the 40th minute – we absolutely nullified them,” Poole explained.
“I thought we killed the atmosphere inside the stadium, although we could have been better going forward because we let them off the hook a couple of times when we broke.
“Obviously the red card has then completely changed the game and they’ve gone ahead with the penalty. I think anyone on the line would have instinctively done the same thing because you’re not going to let the ball just fly in, but it was tough from there.”
The defender was frank about Portsmouth’s ongoing struggles from set-piece situations.
“We clearly need to be a lot better from set-pieces, otherwise we’re going to be fighting an uphill battle in every game,” Poole stated.
Mousinho on Sheffield United Defeat
“Teams are going to be targeting us and we have to be stronger in those situations because it’s cost us another couple of goals.
“Especially as a centre-half, they’re not the goals we want to be conceding and it’s happening far too much. It’s something that has to change and everyone knows that, so it’s down to us to put things right as quickly as possible.”
