Portsmouth vs Sheffield Utd — Championship: stats, lineups & analysis
HighlightsSheffield United FCYouTubeMatch Events
play_arrow6 clips- 27′Portsmouth, yellow card:Foul
- 35′Sheffield Utd, yellow card:Foul
- 41′Portsmouth, goal:1–0
- 44′Sheffield Utd, red card:
- Half-time1 – 0
- 46′Sheffield Utd, substitution:off
- 46′Sheffield Utd, substitution:off
- 54′Portsmouth, goal:2–0assist
- 59′Sheffield Utd, goal:2–1assist
- 60′Portsmouth, yellow card:Argument
- 60′Sheffield Utd, yellow card:Argument
- 60′Sheffield Utd, substitution:off
- 62′Portsmouth, substitution:off
- 67′Sheffield Utd, goal:2–2assist
- 68′Portsmouth, substitution:off
- 69′Portsmouth, substitution:off
- 69′Portsmouth, substitution:off
- 79′Sheffield Utd, substitution:off
- 79′Sheffield Utd, substitution:off
- 82′Portsmouth, yellow card:Foul
- 87′Portsmouth, substitution:off
- 89′Portsmouth, goal:3–2
- Full-time3 – 2
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Portsmouth
Sheffield Utd
Match report
Portsmouth beat ten-man Sheffield Utd with Adams goal late on
Portsmouth edged a five-goal Championship match at Fratton Park on matchday 10, beating Sheffield Utd 3-2 after twice leading and being pegged back. Ebrima Adams struck in the 89th minute to settle it, ending a run of three games without a win for the home side and lifting them from 20th to 16th.
AI-assisted match report written from official match data.
Zachary Swanson put Portsmouth ahead in the 41st minute, and three minutes later Sheffield Utd were reduced to ten men when Hamza Choudhury was sent off. Adrian Segecic doubled the lead in the 54th minute, with R. Kavuma McQueen providing the assist, and the hosts appeared to be in control.
Sheffield Utd responded with two goals in eight minutes. Japhet Tanganga pulled one back in the 59th minute from Tahith Chong's pass, and Thomas Cannon levelled in the 67th with Kalvin Phillips the creator. After the red card, the visitors scored twice and conceded twice before Adams won it for Portsmouth.
The result left Sheffield Utd 15th on 12 points. Both sides play away on Saturday, Portsmouth at Norwich and Sheffield Utd at Bristol City, in the Championship.
Adrian Segecic scored Portsmouth's second goal and carried the highest rating of any player on the pitch, 8.2. Thomas Cannon, who equalised for the ten men, was the best-rated visitor on 7.52.
Portsmouth had 24 shots to Sheffield Utd's 11, yet the visitors cut the gap to a single goal and levelled the match with ten men.
Portsmouth beat Sheffield Utd 3–2 (half-time 1–0).
Portsmouth met Sheffield Utd in the Championship (Regular Season - 10). Kick-off was Wednesday, 14 October 2026, 18:45 UTC at Fratton Park. Referee: Oliver Langford.
Team pages: Portsmouth · Sheffield Utd · Championship
Key moments
- 41' Goal: Zak Swanson — 1–0 · Watch Zak Swanson's goal video (41')
- 44' Red card: Hamza Choudhury
- 54' Goal: Adrian Segecic (assist: R. Kavuma McQueen) — 2–0 · Watch Adrian Segecic's goal video (54')
- 59' Goal: Japhet Tanganga (assist: Tahith Chong) — 2–1 · Watch Japhet Tanganga's goal video (59')
- 67' Goal: Tom Cannon (assist: Kalvin Phillips) — 2–2 · Watch Tom Cannon's goal video (67')
- 89' Goal: Ebou Adams — 3–2 · Watch Ebou Adams's goal video (89')
Starting line-ups
Portsmouth (4-2-3-1)
Sheffield Utd (4-4-2)
Sirius · Why these numbers
Before kick-off Sirius gave Portsmouth 41%, the draw 30%, Sheffield Utd 29%. It finished Portsmouth 3–2 Sheffield Utd.
Home advantage and a cooling Sheffield Utd streak edge Portsmouth — Our strength rating actually favours Sheffield Utd, 1440 to 1374, but Portsmouth's home advantage and the likelihood that Sheffield Utd's recent scoring above their chances cools off give Portsmouth a slight lean at 41%. The draw sits at 30%, close to the usual 29% for a gap this size, with the Championship's typical draw rate and a typical scoring level nudging it up and the finishing streak pulling it down.
Why Portsmouth at 41%?
Home ground, against the rating. Sheffield Utd sit 66 points higher on our strength rating — 1440 to 1374. Sides with a 40–80-point rating edge on the road won 32.5% of 10,384 such games. Sheffield Utd scored +0.35 goals per game beyond chance-quality lately — hot streaks like that have cooled off. Visitors running this hot went on to win 27.3% of 1,461 games, vs 27.9% for visitors finishing normally. Portsmouth hold 8 more possession points (53 to 45 in recent games) across a 66-point rating gap. Control now carries a receipt beyond near-equals too: sides with this control edge at a 60–120-point rating gap won 42.7% of 8,632 such games where the class table expected 40.6%.
Why only 41%?
Because Sheffield Utd are the stronger side on our strength rating. Championship home sides under-perform the global norm — and the difference mostly flows to draws (26.9% vs 25.4% norm). Championship homes won 42.9% of 8,470 games vs 44.6% across all 101,177 — outside the noise band, so the tally moves accordingly.
Why is the draw second, ahead of the Sheffield Utd win?
With a rating gap this size the draw starts at 29.2%. These teams' recent games average 2.7 goals — a typical goals environment. Games in that environment drew 26.5% of 28,318. The cool-off factor takes 2.5 points off the draw. Championship runs draw-heavy, adding 1.6 points.
What did we measure but not count?
Sheffield Utd won 3 of the last 4 meetings with Portsmouth. The record is 3 wins for Sheffield Utd, 1 draw and 0 wins for Portsmouth. These were 4 Championship games played at both grounds between 28 September 2024 and 14 February 2026. Latest meeting: 14 February 2026 — Portsmouth 0–1 Sheffield Utd. In 5,648 historical matches between similarly rated teams, visiting sides with the stronger head-to-head record won 28.1%.
Sirius probabilities, frozen at kick-off. Analysis, not betting advice. How Sirius is doing this season · Full breakdown, evidence cards and squad news in the Match Insights tab
About this match
On this page: the Portsmouth vs Sheffield Utd final score and result, goal highlights and video clips of every goal, who scored, starting lineups, match stats and the full match report from this Championship fixture.
- Who scored and when — a goal-by-goal timeline of the match.
- Match stats — possession, shots, expected goals (xG), corners and cards.
- Starting lineups and player ratings for both teams.
- Head-to-head record and recent form for both sides.
- Watch Zak Swanson's goal against Sheffield Utd (41').
- Watch Adrian Segecic's goal against Sheffield Utd (54').
- Watch Japhet Tanganga's goal against Portsmouth (59').
- Watch Tom Cannon's goal against Portsmouth (67').
- Watch Ebou Adams's goal against Sheffield Utd (89').
Watch the goals: goal highlights and video clips of every goal from Portsmouth 3–2 Sheffield Utd. Explore more on the Portsmouth and Sheffield Utd team pages or the Championship page.