Cotterill vows to improve Pompey

Portsmouth manager Steve Cotterill has vowed to turn the club's fortunes around after watching them slip to another defeat at Sheffield United. Pompey were beaten by a late Ched Evans free-kick at Bramall Lane, but there is plenty to be optimistic about for Cotterill after he watched his side dominate the entire match.And there could have been very little arguments had Pompey left with all three points as United were reliant on goalkeeper Steve Simonsen to keep them in the game.The former Stoke goalkeeper produced a string of fine saves to deny John Utaka, David Nugent and Liam Lawrence as Portsmouth desperately tried to register their first league win of the season.However, they could not make the elusive breakthrough and they remain stuck to the bottom of the table with just two points from their opening seven games.Cotterill has assembled much of his current squad after the season began and he admits they are still not up to pace, which adds to his list of problems."We are not fit enough yet. The only thing the players have done is played the games this week," he said."None of our boys have had a pre-season. We haven't had a good start that has given us a base fitness-wise."The games come thick and fast and we would have preferred a week's training."It's not an easy job. I can't believe how hard it has been to get where we are."There have been a lot of problems that are deep-rooted but we will get to the bottom of them and turn it around."Pompey have hit the back of the net just two times in the league this season and after watching his side create a hatful of chances at Bramall Lane, Cotterill knew his side should have left with the points."It's been like that for the last three games. There's no reward there. I felt that was a game we deserved to win," he added."It summed it up when their goalkeeper was named man of the match. We played very well and created some good chances."Sheffield United boss Gary Speed was happy to admit his side were fortunate to take anything from the game, but hailed his side for grinding out the win."Credit Portsmouth, they have done a job on us. They played very well and stopped us playing," he said."We could play a lot better but we won the game, which I am delighted with."You can't play great every week and when you don't you have to make sure you get a result and that's what we did."

Source: Team_Talk