Sheffield United maintained their unbeaten start to the Championship season with a goalless draw at Portsmouth, who are still waiting for their first win since promotion to the second tier.

The visitors went close to going ahead in the first half when Jesurun Rak-Sakyi found Gus Hamer, whose header was brilliantly saved by Will Norris.

Keeper Norris also produced important stops in the second half, tipping over Femi Seriki's deflected strike and using his legs to repel Tyrese Campbell's low strike at his near post shortly after the striker came on as a substitute.

Blades keeper Michael Cooper did well when called into action as well, denying Paddy Lane twice and keeping out Marlon Pack's free-kick.

The result leaves Sheffield United sixth in the table, three points behind leaders West Bromwich Albion, while Portsmouth remain one off the bottom.

It has been a tough start to the campaign for Pompey following last season’s League One title triumph.

But boss John Mousinho can take plenty of encouragement from their performance against one of the division’s heavyweights, who have now kept four consecutive clean sheets.

Winger Rak-Sakyi, on loan from Crystal Palace, was a constant threat on the right flank, causing the home side problems throughout.

But Portsmouth battled hard - and almost scored late on when Jacob Farrell headed just over from Pack’s corner.

Their next game is away to fellow strugglers Stoke City - a win would take them above the Potters - on Wednesday, when the Blades will be at home to Swansea.

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent:

“It was a really good game of football, we competed really well, and I think if we’d have come away with the win no-one would have been shocked.

“It goes to show that we’re building week-on-week. I’ve been much more pleased with the performances in the last three weeks.

“We’re going away up to Stoke on Wednesday and it’s going to be a very difficult tie with them having a new manager.

“It’s time for us to keep building on those performances and try to get a few more points on the board.

“Wednesday is a great chance to do it. We have to do a bit more than we did today - we weren’t quite good enough to get the win but it was certainly a positive performance."

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield:

“We’d have liked more. We’d have liked to have shown a bit more quality. But we’ve done our analysis on Portsmouth and we knew it was going to be that type of game.

“It’s a big learning curve for the team. Everyone’s seeing Sheffield United as this team that has come out of the Premier League and should go straight back up. But it’s a completely brand new team and they’re learning.

“We’ve got young players all over the team. They wouldn’t have come across in this passionate, ferocious atmosphere that was created by the opposition that gave everything.

“There’s no hiding place here. Their boys stepped on it and caused us problems. We caused them problems at times and are just disappointed we haven’t found that bit of quality.

“There’s stuff we can work on and be better with. But if you can’t get a win then don’t get beat. We’ve got a clean sheet, a point on the road and we’ll learn from it.”