Pompey suffered a narrow defeat at the Stadium of Light in the first leg of their play-off contest with Sunderland.
But Kenny Jackett is confident his side can overturn a one-goal deficit when the sides take to the Fratton pitch next week.
A fine strike from substitute Chris Maguire proved the difference in the north-east, while a foul from Alim Ozturk saw the hosts then reduced to 10 men.
Jackett conceded that his side did not do enough going forward, but was not too disappointed with the outcome.
The Blues boss said: “We’re 1-0 down at half-time, with the second leg to come at Fratton Park – I certainly don’t think that’s a disaster.
“It’s still evenly balanced and we have to make our home advantage count on Thursday evening. We are capable of that.
“I felt we were the stronger side in the first half and just couldn’t get the shots off or threaten in the wide areas.
"It’s still evenly balanced and we have to make our home advantage count on Thursday evening."
“Our delivery into the box wasn’t right and we came out of good areas and then went back into midfield.
“We looked pretty solid for the away side, although Sunderland did have a 15-minute period when they were on top.
“Maguire scored a terrific goal, which left our goalkeeper with no chance and then we again couldn’t find those shots when it was 11 against 10.
“Our two best efforts were both from Gareth Evans and he hit the bar with one of them from a free-kick.”
It was Evans who Ozturk fouled just outside the box midway through the second half to be shown a red card.
Jackett said: “I’ve seen the incident again and I don’t really think the referee had any choice but to send him off.
“Gareth was going through and would have got to the ball before the goalkeeper. It would have been a tough angle, although there was an opportunity for him.”