STEVE CLARIDGE is demanding 90 minutes of consistency from his players as they face a tricky Christmas programme.

Neil Warnock's Sheffield United, Southampton's FA Cup opponents in two weeks' time, provide Portsmouth with a stern test at Fratton Park tomorrow.

They then head for Selhurst Park on Boxing Day to take on Wimbledon.

But the Blues' player-manager (pictured) is puzzled by his team's inability to put in a solid 90 minute performance. He was angry at the way his squad grossly under-performed during the first half of last Saturday's 1-1 draw with Huddersfield.

"We seem to need a wake-up call," he lamented. "We seem to need to go a goal down before we start performing.

"I would say we have played more consistently over the last 10 or 12 games, but it is all about keeping the tempo right. The times when we go sloppy are unfortunately the times we go a goal behind. And then we have to raise our game."

Claridge has a number of important decisions to make for boridgth games. Goalkeeper Aaron Flahavan impressed on his return to first-team action and is likely to keep his place, although Russell Hoult, who was relegated to the bench, is not happy.

He joined Pompey from Derby in a £300,000 deal in January and said: "I've not come down here and left the Premier League to sit on the bench."

Twenty-one-year-old Chris Tardif has been put on stand-by for tomorrow.

Shaun Derry misses the game through suspension after picking up a one match ban for his two yellow cards at Nottingham Forest a fortnight ago.

Claridge also tinkered with his backline at the weekend, going from a four to a five. Asked what his best formation was, the Pompey boss replied: "It goes back to consistency. How can you play four at the back and put in a performance like we did in the first half against Huddersfield, and then go to five and play much better?

"On other occasions when we have played 4-4-2 we have done very well. I don't care whether we had played 6-3-1 or 10-0-0. If you are not going to work hard, you are going to get beat.

"It's not hard to ask someone to apply themselves for 90 minutes. It's not just for an hour or 45 minutes."

PORTSMOUTH (from): Flahavan, Primus, Hiley, Edinburgh, Moore, Thogersen, Waterman, Harper, Hughes, Quashie, Claridge, Bradbury, Hoult, Tardif, Nightingale, Miglioranzi, Panopoulos.