Pompey Academy brought the curtain down on their Youth Alliance League campaign with a 1-0 defeat at title-chasing Swindon.
An early close-range finish from George Alston was enough to secure all three points for the Robins in Cirencester.
The young Blues went into the contest already knowing that they would finish in third position, therefore completing the season in the top tier of the Merit League.
Lead professional development phase coach Sam Hudson said: “We’d identified beforehand that Swindon like to attack their opponents quite directly in the opening stages.
“We thought they’d be looking to score an early goal and then protect what they had, so we made the point that we needed to start strongly to limit their threats.
“Unfortunately, there were only four minutes on the clock when we fell behind and that was disappointing.
“We didn’t really get going and the things we pride ourselves on – pressing, duels, tracking runners – weren’t quite there.
“Once we found our footing, though, we looked a lot more comfortable and began to show some quality on the ball.
"We would have liked a bit more bite and drive from our performance and hopefully we’ll see that again when we start the Merit League fixtures."
“But Swindon got into their shape and were incredibly compact, meaning that they became a lot more difficult to break down.
“We created a lot of good moments before the break and had shots, but none of them were on target. We were missing that killer touch in the final third.
“It then became quite scrappy in the second half. Their direct play put pressure on our back four and we couldn’t regain that foothold.
“We didn’t really look like conceding again, though, and just needed that one good chance to be able to nick something.
“There were a few of them created in the final 10 minutes or so, but again we couldn’t take them, which was frustrating.
“Swindon had more to play for because they were still chasing the title and we knew that, whatever happened, we’d finish third.
“But we would have liked a bit more bite and drive from our performance and hopefully we’ll see that again when we start the Merit League fixtures.”
Pompey: Osei-Owusu; Quarm, Bosaka, Fox, Laidlaw; Murray (Staight 46), Aston; Mottoh, Folarin, Clout (Ani 65); Hurst (May 65)