Steve Cotterill made several changes to the Pompey side and it showed. In came Sonko, Ritchie, Hughes and Kanu for Rocha, Utaka, Brown and Kitson.
Things got off to the worst possible start as Jamie Ashdown's decision to punch away Paul Gallagher's shot rather than catch it was punished as the ball fell to Michael Morrison who couldn't miss from two yards out.
That was only after three minutes and the Pompey back four seemed lost without the prescence of Rocha as the Foxes continued to carve open the defence.
Gallagher hit the crossbar and Dickinson made a last-ditch challenge to prevent a certain goal from Steve Howard after Ward had passed the ball straight to a Leicester player in the box.
Pompey did have chances but 'keeper Conrad Logan was equal to all of the efforts, though Mokoena's goalbound header was cleared off the line and Kanu should have done better with a close range header himself.
And yet again we were made to pay for missed chances as Leicester scored right before the break as Lloyd Dyer cut inside Dickinson and struck the ball in off the post, though Ashdown could have done better to save it.
Nugent could have pulled one back instantly as he raced clear of the Leicester defence but his shot was saved by Logan and nothing came of the resulting corner as Pompey walked off at half-time to jeers from the home supporters.
Pompey began with more purpose in the second half and had far more possession of the ball. Nugent again wasted another excellent chance by firing straight at Logan again whilst there were a few "nearly" moments.
However, the deficit could well have been reduced if Sonko's goal wasn't disallowed by referee Fred Graham for a supposed "push". I was sat right behind the goal and didn't see much in it, and considering how some of the Leicester players weren't penalised for their own fouls, I thought the decision was harsh.
The majority of the 8,327 crowd were showing their frustrations with the "prat in the pink" but it wasn't just the fans that voiced their displeasure with Graham as Richard Hughes was shown a straight red card for abusive language.
I can't remember the last time a player was sent off immediately for such an offence, so I can only imagine that the normally softly-spoken Hughes said something extremely nasty to the referee, though he probably just echoed what the rest of us thought of him.
Being reduced to ten men didn't affect the team, though, and Pompey got a goal back after Logan could only parry away Ward's header into the path of Liam Lawrence who slotted in from a narrow angle to set up an exciting finale.
But despite the late pressure Leicester held on and advanced to the fourth round of the Carling Cup, leaving some fans wondering what might have been if we had a better referee.
Saying that, you can't expect to win a game having defended as badly as we did in the first half and Leicester could have easily settled the game before the break. Ashdown and Dickinson were poor whilst Ward also got away with a couple of mistakes.
The finger of blame could also be pointed at David Nugent for wasting several glorious opportunities to score. Mind you, playing extra time with ten men would have worked in Leicester's favour ahead of the more important league encounter on Friday.
So there is an opportunity for the players to redeem themselves with some players to come back into the side. I expect Leicester will also be stronger so the defence will have to improve and the forwards will need to sharpen up. If I keep typing that last sentence then I'm sure they'll eventually get it right!
Pompey Player Ratings
Jamie Ashdown: 4 - At fault for the first and probably could have done better with the second too.
Carl Dickinson: 5 - Poor distribution but bailed Ward out with tackle on Howard.
Ibrahima Sonko: 6 - Should probably have had a goal to his name.
Aaron Mokoena: 6 - Improved as the game went on.
Joel Ward: 5 - Inexperience showed with a few nervous moments.
Matt Ritchie: 5 - One good cross all game - had little impact.
Richard Hughes: 5 - Wasn't really missed after dismissal.
Hayden Mullins: 6 - Did a job.
Liam Lawrence: 6 - Scored but his delivery was inconsistent.
Kanu: 6 - Some good moments opened up the Leicester defence.
David Nugent: 5 - Spurned a couple of excellent chances.
Substitutes
Darryl Flahavan
Michael Brown (Ritchie 72): N/A - Barely got into the game.
John Utaka (Nugent 80): N/A - Should have been brought on earlier.
Nadir Ciftci
Dave Kitson (Kanu 72): N/A - No chances to score.