Simon Bassey's Portsmouth frustration after familiar attacking woes against Bolton deny progress towards another Wembley final

Although buoyed by a heartening performance at Spurs on Saturday in an FA Cup third-round defeat, it was back to reality at Bolton in the Papa Johns Trophy.

Challenging for a semi-final spot in a competition they have twice reached the final of, the Blues were undone by Jon Dadi Bodvarsson’s 18th-minute goal in 1-0 loss.

Bassey’s men struggled for creativity, with Trotters goalkeeper James Trafford called upon to make just one testing save during the entire match duration.

Such issues are not new, having contributed towards the dismissal of Danny Cowley as head coach at the start of last week.

Now they have prevented Pompey progressing towards another Wembley final following another frustrating attacking performance.

Bassey told The News: ‘I thought we got into enough situations to find that final pass to go clean through on goal.

‘We had 3-4 of them in the first half and probably more than that in the second half – and we haven’t found the goals.

‘Maybe, when we are on a run like this, we’ve become a bit selfish at times and opt to shoot when someone else is in a better position. Maybe that’s a tad anxious on our behalf.

‘The best players when they get into that penalty area, the game slows down for them, mentally. They have a deep breath, pick the right option and, at the moment, it looks like it speeds up when we get in there.

‘We were not good enough in the first half, I thought they got in between us a bit and we were a yard or two off it.

‘We got into some good areas, but crossed with poor quality, we probably didn't commit enough men to the box with that and, ultimately, came away from home in the quarter-final of a cup and lost off our long throw.

‘We made it difficult for ourselves, didn’t play with enough energy, didn’t win enough duels.

‘In the second half I thought we came out, stepped up a bit, turned the ball over a lot more and had 5-6 really good opportunities to find the final ball.

‘But, on the night, never had enough quality to do so.’

Meanwhile, Pompey’s managerial hunt continues, with Bassey having now overseeing them for two matches as caretaker boss.

The Blues are back at the University of Bolton Stadium on Saturday – although the first-team coach cannot say whether the vacant position will be filled by then.

He added: ‘No developments, maybe I’ll be back here on Saturday.

‘I’ll just play it by ear.’