Portsmouth caretaker manager Guy Whittingham spoke to BBC Radio Solent after his side's 1-1 draw against Carlisle at Fratton Park, Whittingham saying there is some spirit building in his squad:
"It's probably one a few weeks ago we might have lost and heads might have gone down after going a goal down but it shows there is a spirit building there. I was a bit disappointed with the goal we conceded, obviously you are trying to stay solid and the lad (Rory Loy) has run across two of our players to get in where he was, so that was a bit disappointing.
“But, throughout the game we looked generally OK, not too much trouble, Simon Eastwood has pulled off a great save midway through the half where Jed Wallace has just mistimed a header and the lad (Liam Noble) has produced a great volley and Easty has got done well, and then he saved one more at his near-post. So, on the balance of things it was probably a fair result.
“I think you do think you can nick it, when you get the goal back the momentum suddenly comes with you and we brought Jon Akinde and Pat Agyemang was having a decent game. So, we wanted to get the ball forward early up to them, and we didn’t quite join in quick enough for me, but that is something to work on. It is difficult for Akinde and Agyemang to come in and come and play a lot of games, because we have had a lot of games recently. But, we are hoping that we are managing them well enough so that they will be big assets to us to the end of the season.
“One of the reasons we brought Agyemang here is because he is strong, because we haven’t really had someone like that for most of the season. Paul Benson worked and worked the channels and got us flick-ons but I think Pat and Jon brings a side of the game to us now where we can actually get the ball up to them and they can hold it in and we can go and join in.
“I think on the side you never know which way the penalty is going to go, because we haven’t scored enough of the penalties we have been given this season. But, he (Liam Walker) took it well and I am delighted for him because it has not been easy for Liam, in and out of the side and all he wants to get is a run in the side. So, come up with the courage to take that penalty was great for him. He does strike the ball well and we keep encouraging him to play quickly and we know that he got the ability to find a great pass and get a good shot off.
“Finding a cutting edge is now the balance because if you lose that bit of solid defensive play to encourage more offensive play then you might just lose out. But we are working at it and the important thing is that we are making sure that the players give everything they have and we are making sure that we are defensively harder to break down.
“Shaun Cooper hurt just the top of his quadriceps, we will let that settle down and see what it is like on Monday. We think it is bad enough, it is not one of those that he will be fit for next week, we will just have to assess it and see how long it takes, we didn’t get any other knocks though, everybody else is fine.”
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