It's back to the drawing board for John Mousinho and Portsmouth following another defeat on the road.
A first half penalty from Sydie Peck following a handball and a straight red card for Terry Devlin, a first Blades goal for Patrick Bamford in the second 45 and a strike from distance by Gustavo Hamer was the difference in South Yorkshire this evening.
Pompey now drop just two points above the relegation zone, down to 20th, one point and place ahead of Chris Wilder’s side and just 2 ahead of Oxford United, who now occupy 22nd.
It was an unchanged XI and bench to the side that defeated Millwall 3-1 last Saturday at Fratton Park.
The Blades took the lead moments before half-time via a penalty, when Japhet Tanganga’s header from Sam McCallum’s corner struck the hand of Devlin on the goal-line, who received a straight red card for the infringement.
Despite the experienced Patrick Bamford initially going up to take the spot-kick, the former Leeds United man handed the ball to the England under-21 international Peck to score his first professional goal.
The Arsenal Academy graduate stepped up to the spot where he converted the ball past Nicolas Schmid to make it 1-0 to Sheffield United, 41 minutes on the clock.
After the opening goal, Hungarian midfielder Márk Kosznovszky dropped in at right-back for the final moments of the first 45.
HALF-TIME: Sheffield United 1-0 Portsmouth
Adrian Segečić was sacrificed at half-time for full-back Jordan Williams, who came on at right back, which at that point left a front three of Josh Murphy, Florian Bianchini and Colby Bishop.
United doubled their lead through Bamford, when the 32-year-old tapped home Tanganga’s header that hit the bar from McCallum’s in-swinging corner to make it 2-0, 53 minutes gone.
On the hour mark, captain Colby Bishop was replaced by Northern Ireland under-21 international Makenzie Kirk up front.
Chris Wilder also made a change, with scorer of the Blades’ second goal Patrick Bamford being subbed for Gustavo Hamer, along with the assister McCallum, who was off Harrison Burrows.
The third change made by John Mousinho was Connor Chaplin, who came on for Josh Murphy with just over 20 minutes to go.
Gustavo Hamer scored the third goal of the game on 73 minutes, when the Dutch midfielder fired the ball at goal from around 20 yards out that flew into the top left-hand corner to make to 3-0 to the Blades.
Marlon Pack and Yang Min-hyeok were the final two changes, as they came on for Kosznovszky and Bianchini on 74 minutes.
United sub Danny Ings was almost back to haunt Pompey again; however, Regan Poole was able to catch the former Southampton striker out for offside.
Fourth official Ben Toner added 4 minutes of additional time after the 90 was up.
FULL-TIME: Sheffield United 3-0 Portsmouth
Next up: It’s back to PO4 for John Mousinho’s side, who welcome Gerhard Struber’s Bristol City to Fratton Park on Saturday in a 12:30 kick-off.
Last season, it was a 3-0 win in the home fixture for Portsmouth, thanks to goals from the attacking trio of Colby Bishop, Josh Murphy and Callum Lang.
Sheffield United: 1. Cooper (GK), 38. Seriki (25. McGuiness), 2. Tanganga (C), 15. Mee, 3. McCallum (14. Burrows), 42. Peck, 44. Riedewald (18. Soumaré) 11. Brooks, 10 O’Hare, 7. Cannon (9. Ings), 45. Bamford (8. Hamer) (Formation: 4-2-2-2)
Unused subs: 17. Davies (GK), 23. Campbell, 26. Oné, 28. Matos
Goals: Peck 41’ (Penalty), Bamford 53’, Hamer 73’
Manager: Chris Wilder
Portsmouth: 1. Schmid (GK), 22. Swanson, 4. Knight, 5. Poole, 24. Devlin, 21. Dozzell, 18. Kosznovszky (7. Pack,) 11. Bianchini (47. Min-hyeok), 10. Segečić (2. Williams), 23. Murphy (36. Chaplin), 9. Bishop (25. Kirk) (Formation: 4-2-3-1)
Unused subs: 26. Bursik (GK), 8. Swift, 14. Matthews, 16. Le Roux, 49. Lang
Bookings: Devlin 39’ (Red card), Kosznovszky 71’
Head coach: John Mousinho
Referee: Leigh Doughty
Venue: Bramall Lane
Attendance: 25,785 (including 1,000+ Pompey fans)
The post-match analysis from Bramall Lane is available to listen back to via the Pompey Live: Extra-Time podcast - Jake Smith was accompanied by James Wilson and Portsmouth Women head coach Jay Sadler for reaction to the game on Express FM.
Jake will be back with the next instalment of The Football Hour this Friday (November 28th) to provide further analysis and also a preview of Saturday's lunchtime meeting with Bristol City at Fratton Park.
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