It seemed like the floodlights might open once Ronan Curtis had given Pompey the lead after just 15 minutes at a wet and windy Fratton Park.
But they ultimately had to settle for a 1-1 draw with AFC Wimbledon in a Papa Johns Trophy group stage contest.
The hosts went on to claim a bonus point in the resulting shoot-out, although second spot behind the Dons had already been guaranteed.
And Denver Hume felt that the Blues needed to build on their bright opening in order to enjoy a more convincing evening.
The left-back said: “I thought we did quite well in the first half and had some good passages of play to create chances.
“But after scoring the first, we needed to go on and get the second – if we’d have done that, then it probably would have been a comfortable win.
"There were some sloppy bits in there from us, including the goal we conceded, which is obviously frustrating."
“The second half turned out to be a lot scrappier and we weren’t able to create as much as we wanted.
“There were some sloppy bits in there from us, including the goal we conceded, which is obviously frustrating.
“Perhaps we could have kept things a bit simpler and been more patient in order to secure all three points.”
Hume was happy to get through the entire 90 minutes after seeing the start to his Pompey career hampered by injuries.
He said: “I’m feeling really good now and this is definitely the best I’ve been for a while, so I want to stay fit.
“I need to keep performing as well as possible whenever I get the opportunity and force my way into this team.
“You’ve just got to stay patient, train hard and make the most of the chance to impress whenever it comes along.”