Tom Naylor says that Pompey cannot expect to blow teams away every week.
They went into a league game with Shrewsbury on the back of a 3-0 victory over Plymouth and a 4-0 Checkatrade Trophy rout of Gillingham.
But a late Brett Pitman penalty was required to secure a 1-1 draw with the visitors from Shropshire on Saturday.
And while Naylor admits it was a struggle at times, he believes the depth of their squad means the Blues should remain upbeat.
The midfielder said: “Not every opponent is going to be a pushover and we’re not going to win every game by three or four goals.
“Shrewsbury are a great side that were in the play-offs last season. They came here and played really well.
"You only have to look at the bench to see the strength we’ve got and the competition there is for places."
“Eventually we got the penalty to make it 1-1 and it’s important to remember that we’re still unbeaten.
“Sometimes you can boss the midfield and there are other times when it’s going to be more difficult to do that.
“But you only have to look at the bench to see the strength we’ve got and the competition there is for places. That should give the gaffer a headache about who he’s going to pick.”
Pompey remain second in the table despite dropping a couple of points and Naylor is confident they can enjoy a successful season.
He said: “There’s no point being negative and settling for the play-offs – I think we’re capable of automatic promotion.
“We’ve had a great start and now we just need to keep picking up results and see where we are around March.”