Paul Downing: Portsmouth will step it up after opening-day loss at Shrewsbury

The Blues fell to a disappointing 1-0 loss in their season curtain-raiser at Shrewsbury.

Ryan Giles’ sumptuous 68th-minute strike proved the difference at New Meadow.

Pompey were scarcely put under pressure against the Shrews, though, and enjoyed the majority of possession and attacking play.

However, Kenny Jackett’s men were unable to make their pressure count, with the majority of crosses into the box lacking real quality.

Downing, who made his debut after arriving from Doncaster this summer, felt Pompey were the better side against the Shrews.

And he insisted there's still plenty more to come despite a poor start to the campaign.

The defender said: ‘We’re not trying to be too hard on ourselves.

‘Goals like that are going to go in on days and go over (the crossbar) on others.

‘We felt really comfortable and felt like we were the team on the ascendancy.

‘We looked the more likely to score in my opinion, even when we went down to 10 men.

‘There are some positives but we know we can step it up and improve.’