Pompey's players can expect plenty of hard work on defensive and attacking aspects of their game this week following their failure to impress at Burton.

They let themselves down by letting in a soft early goal at the Pirelli Stadium, then proved wasteful when they did get a sight of goal at the other end.

Andy Awford felt his side had their moments at Burton but admitted you couldn't get the basics wrong at both ends and expect to get anything.

He vowed to work his squad hard ahead of Saturday's trip to Southend.

Awford told the club website: 'When you concede after a minute you’re always up against it. We worked our way back into the game, but just weren’t good enough in both boxes.

'I’ve seen the stats and we had a lot of possession and corners — we’ve controlled the game for long periods between those boxes. But it’s all very well running around and having a lot of the ball in the middle of the park.

'I felt we had enough chances to get something from the game, but couldn’t take them, while they took their opportunities. We didn’t hit the target enough and the final ball wasn’t good enough once we got into promising situations.

'You have to take your chances and defend better at the other end. They’re the areas that we’ll be looking to improve on. But Burton look a decent side with a good manager and they know what they’re doing. I think they’ll do very well this season.'

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