Prior to the game I went to meet Peter Storrie and Lucius Peart as part of the Pompey Virtual Alliance and it was a very positive, open meeting indeed. There will be an official minute report to come but some of the things that were said has really hammered home the kind of predicament we're in.
As for the match, I was entertained today with our new style of play and we certainly created enough chances to win the game but when you defend as badly as our back four did today and suffer the bad luck that relegation threatened sides do, you just know your team is going to lose.
And as good as we were going forward, there was nobody there to get on the end of a cross and when there was, the finishing simply wasn't good enough. Bolton, on the other hand, took the majority of the chances that we gifted them but even Matt Taylor was guilty of some woeful finishing.
The Pompey defence struggled to deal with Bolton's direct long balls and flick ons all day and they left Tamir Cohen unmarked to smash Bolton into the lead early on, when the visitors already tested David James with a close range header.
Pompey levelled the score when Younes Kaboul headed in Jamie O'Hara's cross and he should have scored with another header from a cross soon after. The game was end to end stuff at that point with both teams leaving themselves open but Bolton took the lead again in controversial fashion.
Tal Ben Haim dived in on Kevin Davies and Chris Foy pointed to the spot. It looked like Ben Haim got the ball when the big screen showed the reply but there was really no need to dive in in the first place. Taylor stepped up and rolled in his spot kick and then rushed to celebrate with the Bolton fans, proving he has no ties with us anymore.
I felt we didn't deserve to go in at half time behind but I knew we had created enough to grab an equaliser and that's what we did when Kevin-Prince Boateng struck in a debut goal when Bolton failed to clear in their area.
We had created more chances to take the lead but Bolton always looked threatening when they attacked us due to the flimsy nature of our defence. And our defence were well and truly punished when they failed to deal with a long throw which lead to Gary Cahill heading in at the far post from all of a yard out, despite the vain cries of offside.
And that goal has consigned Pompey to a fifth defeat in a row and already the Pompey fans are accepting that we'll be playing in the Championship next season, and we're not even halfway through September!
I'm not sure what Paul Hart could have done today but some of his tactical substitutions can come into question.
The crowd were baffled when he took off the lively O'Hara and replaced him with Hassan Yebda whilst the impressive Tommy Smith was subbed late on in the game for Danny Webber.
However, I can't understand why Hart didn't introduce Kanu to the game because it was too open and we needed someone to hold the ball up. The Nigerian is a big, strong lad and would have given the Bolton defence something to think about when we decided to try and hoof the ball upfield in desperation.
As for his new signings, I think it's fair to say that a couple of the debutants played well today. Kevin-Prince Boateng looks like he'll do well once he settles and Jamie O'Hara was a livewire, gave 100% and could take a decent corner.
On the other hand, Tal Ben Haim looked like he was a bit lost at times and seems to have shrunk since his Bolton days. Hassan Yebda looks like he has an eye for a pass but he played us into big trouble at one point during the match so he needs time to settle.
We can't judge Webber as he hardly had any playing time but it's the likes of Nadir Belhadj and Anthony Vanden Borre that worry me. Both players, Belhadj in particular, can carry the ball forward but the are awful defensively as they constantly get caught out of position and can't tackle very well either.
This is the main weakness of our defence and they weren't helped by our defensive midfielder who couldn't give them any protection and couldn't pass a ball. Quite why Aaron Mokoena is the new Pompey captain is anyone's guess, because I don't even think he is good enough to get into the first team now.
I suppose you could our situation up by saying that when Younes Kaboul is your best defender (and your top goalscorer) then you know you have problems, especially when we are playing a more open game without a prolific goalscorer.
Hart may have sacrificed cautiousness for aggression in hopes for a change of fortune but we still can't win against a poor team that most teams will beat at home this season. We don't have good enough strikers to play defensively and nick a goal on the break and we don't have a string enough defence to play an attacking game that leaves us wide open. So where do we go from here?
The future looks bleak and hope may seemingly be lost already. I can't think of any team that has avoided relegation from the top flight having lost their first five games of the season. It seems like we're going to need a miracle to survive.
Pompey Player Ratings
David James: 6 - Let down by his defence.
Anthony Vanden Borre: 5 - OK going forward but awful at doing the job he is supposed to do.
Younes Kaboul: 7 - Always threatened from set-pieces and defended better than the rest.
Tal Ben-Haim: 5 - A shaky start to his Pompey career.
Nadir Belhadj: 6 - Dangerous going forward but left us open at the back.
Aaron Mokoena: 4 - Poor all-round game, not fit to be our captain.
Michael Brown: 6 - Gave his all.
Jamie O'Hara: 7 - Looks like a great addition to the team.
Kevin-Prince Boateng: 7 - Scoring debut.
Tommy Smith: 6 - Provided some cutting edge.
Frederic Piquionne: 6 - Needs to work on his finishing.
Substitutes
Asmir Begovic
Mike Williamson
Hayden Mullins
Hassan Yebda (O'Hara 71): N/A - Needs time to show us what he can do.
John Utaka
Kanu
Danny Webber (Smith 83): N/A - No time to make an impact.