One man had something to smile about as Pompey made their way home from the Stadium of Light.
A narrow loss to last season’s promotion rivals Sunderland certainly provided little reason to celebrate.
But it at least saw Marcus Harness net his first goal for the Blues since arriving from Burton earlier in the summer.
It looked like the chance had gone when first he, and then John Marquis, failed to get shots away, but the winger finally managed to stroke home.
And while it was a moment to remember for the 23-year-old, he was disappointed that the afternoon ultimately ended in a 2-1 defeat.
Harness said: “I was obviously buzzing to get my first goal and hopefully there’s more to come for me.
“The ball seemed to get caught up in the pitch, which was a bit dry, but John managed to keep it alive.
"I’m happy to get off the mark for Pompey and it’s a great personal milestone for me, although I’m gutted about the result."
“Thankfully it dropped for me again and I just tried to keep it low and hard – fortunately it hit the back of the net.
“I’m happy to get off the mark for Pompey and it’s a great personal milestone for me, although I’m gutted about the result.
“We controlled most of the game and just conceded two poor goals. We couldn’t find a way back, despite having a few chances.
“You don’t want to be conceding from set-pieces and that’s a big part of what the staff here speak to us about.
“Everyone was frustrated, but you can’t change things now and if we keep performing like that then we should do well.
“It’s still very early days in the season and there’s an awful long way to go, so we’ll all be remaining positive.”