John Mousinho was unhappy by Pompey’s negative mindset in their Hampshire Cup defeat to Bournemouth.
They had raced into a commanding lead in the quarter-final tie at Dean Court, courtesy of goals from Tom Lowery and Koby Mottoh.
But the home side then took advantage of some sloppy play to strike four times in the space of just 12 minutes, with Wales international David Brooks grabbing a hat-trick.
Daniel Adu-Adjei also found the target and then completed a 5-2 win for the home side after the break to leave Mousinho feeling frustrated.
The Blues boss said: “We went from going two goals ahead and looking really comfortable – fully deserving our lead – to being 4-2 behind at half-time.
“It was disappointing for a number of reasons and we didn’t press aggressively enough, which was part of the problem.
“We took our first step backwards, rather than forwards, and Bournemouth are a good side who like to play.
“When we got our pressing right it led to us scoring twice, although then we were too hesitant and gave the ball away sloppily.
"It was disappointing for a number of reasons and we didn’t press aggressively enough, which was part of the problem."
“I don’t mind if we give goals away as a result of some positive play, but we were far too negative at times.
“Brooks is obviously a quality player and if you give him time and space, then he’s obviously going to punish you.”
Despite the result, Mousinho was pleased to see Clark Robertson, Jay Mingi and Tom Lowery all continue their march towards full match fitness.
He said: “It was a decent enough exercise, particularly for those lads who were coming back from long-term injuries.
“We know that a fully-fit Clark doesn’t let that fifth goal happen, but we wanted to give him around an hour and it’s another step back in his rehab.
“It was another box checked for Tom and we got Jay through the game, which is another positive from the night.
“There was valuable exposure to some members of our youth team and this will have been a good lesson for them.
“It would have been great to see Kieron Freeman involved as well and he was set to play, but unfortunately had an illness.”