Gareth Evans remains confident of play-off progress for Pompey - because they're better than Sunderland.

The crowd favourite retains belief the Blues can get to Wembley despite losing 1-0 in the semi-final first leg at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

Evans feels Pompey can make their superiority count on home soil and is relishing Thursday's second leg. He told The News: 'It's still very much in the balance. There wasn't much in it. There was a little bit of quality from them for their goal.

‘They've got the goal, but it's only half-time and we said in the dressing room that we were 1-0 down half-time at Wembley. We went on to batter them in the second half - and that's fully what we intend to do on Thursday.

‘There's still 90 minutes to play and it's not like the tie was over. At the end of the game they were celebrating like they'd' won three or four nil. It's up to them how they celebrate. We just need to be as professional as we can and do the business on Thursday.

‘It's only 1-0 and there's still 90 minutes to play. We very much fancy ourselves. Perhaps mentally they feel like they've got the edge, but we feel like we've got the edge. It's in the balance, but at Fratton Park in front of packed crowd we fancy ourselves to score a couple of goals at least.

‘It's going to be a great game, a great occasion and the whole of Portsmouth is looking forward to it. I know the lads are extremely excited about it. It’s sold out and it’s going to be one of those fantastic nights at Fratton Park - and we want the result to go with it.

‘We’re very positive and we feel like we’re a better team than Sunderland. So we have to get the result on Thursday and get the better of them.’

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