Midfielder says Blues needed to be better at Accrington
James Dunne was welcomed straight back into the side at Accrington after completing a two-match ban.
But he was unable to inspire a return to winning ways as Pompey were held to a 1-1 draw.
Ryan Taylor cancelled out Josh Windass’ opener prior to half-time, while Anthony Barry was then sent off for a challenge on Danny Hollands.
And despite dominating possession as they went in search of a winner, Dunne felt the Blues were well below their best.
The midfielder said: “I don’t think we played to our usual level before the break and Accrington had enough chances to win the game by half-time.
“But we stayed in the contest and then in the second half kept trying to break them down.
“They sat back and defended well, but we weren’t quite able to find a way through and get that winning goal.
“Maybe there was a bit of tiredness, but it must have been the same for them, so we had to deal with that.
“They went down to 10 men and we had some chances, including hitting bar late on, but it wasn’t really our day.
“Now we move on to the next game and we’ll stay positive as we look to claim all three points.”
The result saw Pompey drop one place to 14th in the League Two table, but Dunne is still looking to end the season on a high.
He said: “There are 11 games left and a lot of points to play for, so we’re not going to give up.
“We just need to collect as many wins as we can until the end of the season and see where that takes us.
“There was a good run recently, so we need to get back to the form we showed during that spell – starting with Luton next Saturday.”