Bristol City v Pompey reaction

Published: 21 Aug 2011 - 09:40:00

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Steve Cotterill felt Portsmouth deserved more than a 0-0 draw in their Championship clash against Bristol City at Ashton Gate. The visitors sprang to life in the second half and created the best chances of a game littered with errors. Liam Lawrence headed straight at goalkeeper Dean Gerken from the best of them in the 58th minute, having been left completely unmarked just eight yards out. Dave Kitson also went close and in the closing moments a cross from the right flew inches beyond the head of diving substitute Benjani Mwaruwari. Pompey also came closest to a goal from the best effort of the match, a brilliant curling shot from 25 yards by Luke Varney, which thumped against the post and back into play in the 72nd minute. Cotterill said: "Bristol City were the better side in the first half, but we did much better in the second and had some great chances to win the game. "Considering Bristol won away at Leicester in midweek it doesn't look a bad point for us, but I'm disappointed we didn't get all three. "They deserve credit because they played on Wednesday night. We had an extra day to recover from our midweek win and I still thought we lacked a bit of freshness at times. "I introduced new signing Erik Huseklepp in the last few minutes and he looked very sharp. I'm hoping to take on two or three more players, but it might be through the loan market, rather than permanent transfers. "You have to take your opportunities in this league because the teams are very closely matched. "We played some good stuff in the second half, but just lacked that killer finish." Bristol City boss Keith Millen was pleased with the way his side battled to the end. "I'm proud of my players. They didn't have much time to recover from a tough game at Leicester and there were some tired legs in the second half," he said. "I was turning to my assistant and asking him which players looked the most tired. It was a job to tell, but we kept going and only one team looked like winning it in the last 10 minutes. "It was important to us to get our first clean sheet of the season and it's another result to build on after losing our two opening games. "We looked dangerous on both flanks, but even though we got some decent balls into their box we came up against some very strong defenders. "I was really pleased with our back four as a unit. It wasn't the personnel I would have picked at the start of the season. But we have overcome injuries and illness which shows the strength of our squad." Both sides had a defensive look, with Nicky Maynard playing as a lone striker for City and Kitson doing the same job for Pompey. The first half lacked nothing in commitment, but there was no goalmouth action to excite a 12,000 crowd. Portsmouth stepped up a gear after the break and Kitson had a shot deflected wide after being teed up by Kanu. At the other end Neil Kilkenny was just off-target with a curling shot and the former Leeds midfielder had the ball in the net in the 67th minute, only to be penalised for his challenge on goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown.