The Fratton faithful had waited 35 days to see their side in action on home soil.
Unfortunately, the homecoming ended in frustration with a 2-1 defeat against fellow promotion hopefuls MK Dons.
Despite a dominant opening from Pompey, goals from Mo Eisa and Theo Corbeanu meant the visitors had a commanding lead at the break.
Things got back on track in the second half, but George Hirst’s strike was as good as it got, with the Dons clinging on.
And although Danny Cowley was unhappy with the outcome, there were many aspects of the display he was happy with.
The Blues boss said: “We’re disappointed with the result, but not the performance – and I know people don’t necessarily want to hear the manager speaking positively about the team after a loss.
“But if I’m keeping it real, we dominated the game for the opening 20 minutes and created three or four good opportunities.
“We have to be more clinical in those moments and then they scored the first time they got into our half, let alone the box.
“That’s tough. We have to accept that can happen and my criticism is how we responded to that moment of disappointment.
“The period that it affected the team for was too long and then that affected the crowd, which is natural.
“I know what the supporters want here and you can feel it. They respond to a big tackle, winning a second ball, a moment of combat.
“So when we do concede, go and find some collisions, turn the ball over and get them right back with us.
“But we were better after the break and totally dominated against a really good MK Dons side, with 22 shots.
“People can be critical about our quality into the box and the final action – that’s fair. It’s an area where we need to improve and there’s no doubt about that.
“However, there was a lot to like about the performance and if we keep playing like that, then we’ll win a lot of League One games.”
The signing of Hayden Carter was announced earlier in the day and Cowley wants to make further additions to the squad.
He said: “We know what we need and want to improve the top end of the pitch if we can. We’ve moved some guys out and that’s created some finances, so we need to spend it intelligently.”