Sheffield United boss Gary Speed lauded his team for grinding out the win after beating a dominant Portsmouth 1-0 at Bramall Lane. Ched Evans netted the winner with a free-kick 13 minutes from time but the home side were reliant on goalkeeper Steve Simonsen for keeping them in the game.

Afterwards Speed was happy to admit his side were fortunate to take anything from the game.

"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."