Tony Mowbray admitted his Middlesbrough side squandered a host of scoring chances in the Capital One Cup defeat at Swansea.
Boro were the better side for long spells at the Liberty Stadium but were unable to make it count on the scoreboard.
And that inability to convert chances into scores cost them dear when Seb Hines headed into his own net with nine minutes remaining.
"Cup competitions are about getting through to the next round, and we didn't manage that," said Mowbray.
"It was a tough game, fine margins. I could easily be sitting here having won 1-0, or having lost 1-0.
"Credit to Swansea, they are in the semi-finals of the cup and good luck to them.
"We gave a decent account of ourselves. It was a game we could have won. I don't think there was any time when they cut us open.
"I think the team can take some heart that if we can get out of this division we are in, we can come into the Premier League and be positive.
"There is no respite for us, really. We will try to do a session in the morning before travelling back, then we have one day's preparation and go again against Wolves, who were obviously a Premier League side last year.
"It's a big ask, but we keep going."
The cash-strapped League One side are currently in the hands of PKF, headed up by Trevor Birch, and a High Court hearing was set for the morning where they were going to try to secure the sale of the club's Fratton Park ground to the Portsmouth Supporters Trust (PST) from former owners Portpin.
But PST have said the hearing had been adjourned, before another party, P&A Partnership, said that Portpin wanted them and not PKF to manage the the club's finances until a buyer could be found.
P&A's Brendan Guilfoyle, a well-known football administrator, said Portpin were unhappy with some elements of how PKF had been dealing with things, but they were happy to fund the club through to the end of the season provided he was allowed to run their day-to-day affairs.
He also added that Portpin may be forced to shut the 114-year-old club down if they do not secure a change of administrator.
Guilfoyle said in a statement: "If I am appointed, I am confident that we can find a buyer to secure the long term future of this historic and important club."
