In complete contrast to the performance against Liverpool, Pompey's showing in East London was tame, with the mistakes of old creeping back into play which meant we had shot ourselves in the foot once again.
I mentioned in my preview article yesterday that whoever won the midfield battle would win the game and that turned out to be the case. Boateng and Yebda only made the bench because of illness, meaning Dindane and ex-Hammer Hayden Mullins started the game, and what a difference it made.
A midfield that had kept a world class midfielder in Steven Gerrard quiet had transformed into a mess that failed to contain Scott Parker who almost outbattled our players in the middle of the park singlehandedly.
With West Ham being awarded the most penalties this season and Pompey conceding the most, it shouldn't have been a surprise to see West Ham take the lead via a spot kick.
What angered me most is that the Pompey defence had numerous chances to clear the ball into the stands or to just punt it upfield. Instead, they tried to play the ball out of a congested penalty area, lost it and then Mullins gave away a penalty by trying to win it back from Jimenez.
Diamanti did the honours and Pompey were a goal down and never looked like creating a decent chance, let alone equalising. The only highlight of the first half for us was Ben-Haim's glory run but his strike was over the bar.
In fairness to Avram Grant, he did address the situation by bringing on Boateng for Belhadj at half-time and then Kanu soon after for Dindane. Pompey began to dominate possession at times during the second half but never converted that into chances.
There were only two noteworthy opportunities for Pompey fans to get excited about during the second half. Kanu's backheel almost set up Piquionne in the box and later on confusion between West Ham's Green and Ilunga allowed Boateng to pass both of them, only for his shot to hit the side netting.
The game was over when Radoslav Kovac rose unmarked in the box to head home Jimenez's free kick a minute before time, which led to the Pompey fans leaving Upton Park in their droves.
So, after that excellent win over Liverpool we have been brought back down to earth with this hugely damaging defeat. I don't have any complaints as our hosts were the better side but I was really disappointed with our defence who gave the Hammers far too many chances.
Collison could have had a hat-trick if he had his shooting boots on and it was almost like our back four had forgotten the basics of marking and closing down.
This game also highlighted how poor our midfield is without Boateng. He made a significant difference when he came on in the second half and so we should be grateful that he isn't leaving for Angola now, although he may well leave for another club in January.
Freddie Piquionne and Asmir Begovic are the only other players who could leave the pitch with their heads held high. The former did everything he could with limited service and might have scored on another day, whilst the latter kept the score down with a couple of tremendous saves.
The rest of them need a kick up the arse andAvram Grant now has a huge problem on his hands.
His team are four points adrift of safety after half of the season, he will now be deprived of at least four of his players for the next month or so, he is resigned to selling players in January and there is an embagrgo on the club which means he can't replace them either.
We still can't give up though because we've been through worse than this and survived. January will be the telling month and will either renew our hope or crush it completely.
Pompey Player Ratings
Asmir Begovic: 7 - Felt sorry for him as he was let down by his defence.
Steve Finnan: 5 - Lacklustre showing.
Tal Ben-Haim: 5 - Mistimed many tackles.
Younes Kaboul: 5 - A rare poor showing, should have cleared the ball before the penalty incident.
Hermann Hreidarsson: 5 - Gave away petty free kicks, including the one which led to West Ham's second.
Aruna Dindane: 4 - Did nothing.
Hayden Mullins: 5 - Gave away the penalty and generally poor showing.
Jamie O'Hara: 5 - Some poor passing.
Michael Brown: 6 - Workmanlike but outshone by Parker.
Nadir Belhadj: 6 - All effort but little end product.
Frederic Piquionne: 6 - Did all he could up front on his own.
Substitutes
Jamie Ashdown
Marc Wilson
Hassan Yebda
Papa Bouba Diop
Kevin-Prince Boateng (Belhadj 46): 6 - Added an extra threat.
John Utaka (Brown 79): N/A - Did nothing as expected.
Kanu (Dindane 55): 6 - Trickery almost created something.