Lee Brown conceded that Pompey will produce more attractive displays during the course of the season.
But the stand-in skipper was delighted with the way they grew into the contest to snatch all three points.
The only goal of the game arrived early in the second half, as John Marquis inventively converted a Ronan Curtis delivery.
And Brown felt that the solidity shown by the Blues ensured they came away with a valuable three points.
He said: “It was a massive victory for us because we got a thumping the last time we were at Fratton Park.
“So it was always going to be a bit edgy at the start, but when you’re not playing well, just don’t concede.
"You need to be solid in this league – it doesn’t matter how nice you play. If you’re not, you’ll get found out."
“That’s what we did in the first half and you have to ride out those spells when the passes aren’t coming off and it’s not quite so fluent.
“We came out in the second half and started to build some confidence – you could see it growing as the time went on.
“I’ve been around long enough to know how importance that is in football and I would have taken a scrappy win all day long. But I think it was a bit better than that.
“You need to be solid in this league – it doesn’t matter how nice you play. If you’re not, you’ll get found out.
“That’s the base we’re looking for and it sets you up nicely because you only need to score once to get the win.”
Brown might have got on the scoresheet himself, but Curtis fired a shot over instead of playing in his team-mate.
The left-back said: “I was on him! I wasn’t happy because my eyes lit up, so I’ve warned him that if he does that again, there will be trouble! I can’t knock him, though, because he was brilliant.”