After the game, Alan Shearer said:

"I don't know, I really don't know. I don't know what is going to be enough to stay up.

"Confidence in football is huge and, at the minute, the team aren't winning matches. You get into a habit and, at the minute, it's proving very difficult to win games, it's proving difficult to score goals.

"I would dearly love to think we could go there (Anfield) and get something. We will be trying to do that, but I really don't know, I can't tell you. I don't know what is going to be enough to stay up.

"We are relying on other people. It's going to be a tense end to the season, we all know that. The way the season has gone tells us that this year.

"We have got to make sure we are still in there fighting come the second last, come the last game of the season. We have got to make sure we are in there fighting.

"It's ironic, really, the three players that I wanted up there all had one very good chance each and you would expect at least one of those to go in. The chances were there. On another night, one goes in.

"Everybody will write us off for Liverpool, and I understand that, but we'll go there prepared and see what happens. 

"They are going for the title, and they're under pressure too. I saw them at Hull  and they didn't play particularly well, but won the game.

"We asked the fans to give us a great atmosphere. They did exactly that, and I thank them for that.

"It was the easiest team-talk of my four games – I was really pleased with the effort and commitment. There were no faults there.

"It was just that little bit of quality in the final third (that was lacking), and we would have won.

"Obviously, we started chasing it, and put on as many forwards as possible for the last 15 minutes, and it was inevitable that, in trying to win the game, we were going to leave gaps at the back.

"Whether it turns out to be a good point or a bad one, I don't know. The only thing I can guarantee is that there will be twists and turns between now and the end of the season.

"Four games is a long, long time. We've got two remaining home games, and we have to see what happens in those."

It's at times like this that every possible piece of positive information is collected and recounted in an attempt to convince yourself that this was when the tide would finally start to turn in our direction.

Getting to the 12 minute mark scoreless was mentioned - having been three down to this lot here last season by that point. And recollections of David Kelly's winner here against Pompey were rife - even if memories of the preceding 85 minutes of dross didn't survive the post-match Scotch frenzy in The Farmers that night in 1992....

More recent good news like Shearer's club record-breaking strike against the same side were dusted down, along with the feelgood factor engendered by the crowd participation before Al's testimonial.

Those last pair of big days had been for Shearer the player - fast forward four years and Shearer the manager responded by fielding Viduka, Martins and Owen, dropping Nolan and Ryan Taylor and recalling Coloccini and the fit-again Enrique.

He also asked for the return of that elusive squad member to SJP - the 12th man; although unsold tickets confirmed that not all were willing - or able - to take part in the requested show of strength.

Scarves, flags and placards duly appeared and the atmosphere at kick-off was genuinely stirring - misplaced passes were applauded and any movement of the match ball toward David James was accompanied by a vocal surge that put one in mind of Keegan's debut comment about the crowd "sucking it in."

In the event, though the upbeat mood within SJP gave way to a grim near-silence as those on the field failed to keep their side of the bargain - our cause not helped when Enrique limped off with a 
new injury and Duff was forced again into the left back position.

The paper darts flung pitchside from the crowd came no nearer to their intended targets than United's trio of misfiring strikers though, with Martins welting his best opportunity into outer space and Owen meekly prodding his effort at James - in stark contrast to the confident conversion at Fratton Park.

We may be routinely accused of being delusional, but this was more a case of mass disillusionment. Local Hero may have been on the PA but nobody made a grab at immortality - or least cadging free drinks in this postcode for the next umpteen years. 

The mood at the final whistle was one of resignation, with an immoral minority having already taken their leave before the end - a metaphorical raising of the white flag both on and off the field.  

Quite simply there was nothing - and no-one - to cheer. Whether the presence of someone who has brought comparative good times to this place prevented a more negative reaction is open to question, but many were simply speechless. 

A slight post-match mellowing allowed for thoughts that the point was still of value, seeing us rise up one place into 18th - above the smoggies on goal difference. 

But after being forced into playing last this weekend by TV, watching next week's Monday offering of Villa v Hull on the back of our apparently-inevitable Anfield pummelling promises to be grim in the extreme. And if anything else, the week after looks even worse, before another Monday night date.

Not too much should be read into our second clean sheet of 2009, as our defence mostly had only Crouch to cope with, on a night when former Forest boss Paul Hart was unwilling to commit men upfield and satisfied with a point.

In midfield though, it was a case of three shades of beige once Guthrie took to the field and once again seemed overawed by the occasion. Like Butt and Smith, he lacked nothing in graft and application, but barely a hint of anything approaching guile or craft.

That staggering lack of creativity hardly improved once Gutierrez appeared - incapable of accurate 
or timely passing but able to extract free kicks out of Riley that were promptly frittered away.

With four games to go, this result marks the point at which we truly start to rely on other sides - a forlorn hope indeed, if we can't rely on ourselves. 

Biffa