You are in > manchester.com  > News > "Proud" Adams praises players

General Sport

"Proud" Adams praises players

28/11/2008

Portsmouth manager Tony Adams has said he is "proud" of his players despite their failure to win from 2-0 up against AC Milan in the Uefa Cup.

The home team surrendered a strong position at Fratton Park against one of the world's top club sides, after Younes Kaboul and Kanu had given them a two-goal advantage.

But the late introduction from the bench of playmaker Ronaldinho - who fired in a superb free-kick before Filippo Inzaghi poked home an equaliser in injury time – inspired Milan to a stirring comeback.

Despite the deflating draw, Adams described the match overall as "the best performance I've seen in a long time".

"The boys are feeling flat - they thought they had won it," he said.

"But I'm proud of them.

"Even though we didn't win, we can still say we are four games unbeaten now – and one of those is against Milan."

The two late goals - which both came with less than ten minutes to play - mean Portsmouth have now dropped points by conceding in the closing minutes of matches four times in their last seven fixtures.

And although Adams admitted it is becoming a problem, he backed his men to put an end to their unfortunate run.

"We are struggling to put teams to bed, but [Milan] have some excellent players. If you switch off, they punish you," he said.

"We can work on picking teams up from set plays but it was a fantastic free-kick.

"We've given ourselves a chance but we will still have to get over this. The boys are really upset they didn't hang on to win."