Jacob Farrell's Portsmouth regret after agonisingly close to perfect debut in Sheffield United stalemate

Handed his Pompey debut against Sheffield United after Connor Ogilvie was struck down by illness, the Australian met Marlon Pack’s 90th-minute corner with a clean header.

Unfortunately it flew over the bar and into the Milton End as a rare Blues scoring opportunity in the goalless draw went begging.

By his own admission, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi got the better of him in the first half, yet he grew into the match after the break and showed promising glimpses.

And he also felt he should have earned Pompey their first win of the season with that late header.

He told The News: ‘I should have scored and I’m pretty disappointed not to, but at least I’m getting opportunities and hopefully next time I can bury it.

‘I wasn’t getting anywhere near it the whole game from set-pieces, but the last one came straight to me and I got a head to it. I was unlucky to score, it was good contact, just too high.

‘It came at me really fast, I just couldn’t get it down in time. It would have been great to get three points, but we’ll take a point, they are a good side.

‘I only found out on Friday I was playing as Connor was sick. I had a few nerves going around, but after the first 10-15 minutes I feel I grew into it a bit more. The second half I was comfortable out there.

‘Rak-Sakyi’s a great player, really tricky and hard to mark, so it was a good challenge for myself.

‘In the first half, he probably had me with the runs in behind, but I think in the second half I did a lot better.’

There was a season-best 20,330 crowd for the Fratton Park clash, with quite an atmosphere generated by Blues fans at times.

And the 21-year-old former Central Coast Mariners player admitted he had never come across a noise like it.

He added: ‘The atmosphere was great, non-stop the whole game, something I’ve not really played in front of before, so it was a good experience. I can’t wait for more.

‘I’ve played in similar attendances before, but not regularly. Yet in terms of the sound coming out of the stadium, I’ve never played in front of anything like it.’