Pompey’s defence had very little to deal with throughout the entire 90 minutes of their League One contest with Wycombe.
But it was a similar story at the other end and Kenny Jackett knows his side lacked any attacking flair in a narrow defeat at Adams Park.
The only goal of a largely low-key contest came in the 83rd minute, with Adebayo Akinfenwa tucking away a penalty following Tom Naylor’s handball in the box.
And while Jackett was pleased with the performance of Christian Burgess and Oli Hawkins in defence, he was disappointed with Pompey’s forward play.
The Blues boss said: “We can definitely play better than that and it wasn’t a great performance, although the two centre-backs stood up to the physical challenge.
“Those two looked a decent partnership, but we lacked confidence overall and didn’t show enough quality going forward.
“We conceded from a penalty and my first impressions were that it was correct, although I don’t know whether Tom got a push.
"We can definitely play better than that and it wasn’t a great performance."
“I can see why the referee gave it and that ultimately proved the difference, but there were minimal chances created and that’s frustrating.
“We stood up to the physical nature, but ultimately it wasn’t enough and we couldn’t get our set-piece delivery right.”
Both sides were reduced to 10 men during the second half, with Nnamdi Ofoborh dismissed for the hosts following a foul on Naylor.
And Ellis Harrison followed him down the tunnel after picking up a second booking for his reaction to the challenge.
Jackett said: “I was quite close to the incident and thought it was a red card for their player, while Ellis seemed to get a second booking for something he said.
“To be honest, I couldn’t really see it coming, but that’s not necessarily the reason why we lost the game.”
More than 2,000 Blues fans made the trip to Buckinghamshire and made their frustrations clear at the final whistle.
Jackett said: “We’re seven games in and have won one of them, so it’s a frustration and we obviously want better.
“I understand where the fans are coming from because we didn’t play to our potential and that ultimately comes down to the manager.
“The most important thing you can do in that situation is try to win the next game, so that’s what we’ll try to do.”