Steve Cotterill's options before the tie were even more limited than they were on Saturday as Tommy Smith was injured and Aaron Mokoena was on international duty. This meant that Joel Ward and Nadir Ciftci were given their chances to impress, and they took them.
Ciftci gave Pompey an early lead after heading in at the near post from Matt Ritchie's corner. Boro equalised soon after Darren Murphy's shot took a deflection off Joel Ward and rolled into the corner of Jamie Ashdown's net.
The home crowd were giving poor Ciftci a torrent of abuse during the first half and the Dutchman missed a golden opportunity to give Pompey the lead again after spooning the ball over the bar when Utaka laid it on a plate for him.
But Steve Cotterill's men did have the lead on 36 minutes as Michael Brown ran through the Stevenage defenders and into the box to head in Ward's superb long cross.
The second half saw a controlled performance from Pompey, with Jamie Ashdown only forced into one good save from Michael Bostwick. Nugent missed another one-on-one with Chris Day late on, having struck his shot against the Stevenage goalkeeper when in a similar position in the first half.
I'll be honest, I honestly thought we would be beaten tonight as we have had a torrid summer and with this being Stevenage's first ever cup tie. So I'm very relieved to see Pompey come through this tie without too much trouble in all honesty.
I was particularly impressed with Marc Wilson who looked a cut above the rest of the players on the pitch, whilst the youngsters also showed that they could have a bright future. Even John Utaka wasn't too bad tonight!
There is still room for improvement though, and Cotterill expects to bring in a couple of fresh faces this week in time for the first home game of the season against Reading.
Pompey Player Ratings
Jamie Ashdown: 6 - One good save but I'm still unconvinced.
Joel Ward: 7 - Great cross for the second goal and looked good at right back.
Ibrahima Sonko: 6 - Solid if unspectacular.
Marc Wilson: 8 - A class above the rest, great range of passing.
Matt Ritchie: 6 - An improvement from Saturday's showing.
Richard Hughes: 6 - Plenty of sideways passes.
Hayden Mullins: 6 - Didn't really notice him.
Michael Brown: 7 - Scored an unlikely winner with a great header.
Nadir Ciftci: 7 - Looked bright and grabbed a goal too.
John Utaka: 6 - Actually gave some effort this time.
David Nugent: 5 - Missed two great chances.
Substitutes
Liam O'Brien
Ellis Martin
Pete Gregory (Mullins 75): N/A - Brought on to protect Mullins who is still nursing a slight injury.
Marlon Pack