Leeds United boss Daniel Farke called for calm after his Championship leaders dropped points for the second weekend in succession.
The Whites’ promotion hopes suffered a setback on Sunday as they were beaten 1-0 at Portsmouth just eight days after being held at home by West Bromwich Albion.
They remain top but are now level on points with second-placed Sheffield United – with third-placed Burnley just two points back.
Leeds missed out on promotion to the Premier League in a three-horse title race with Leicester and Ipswich last season after fading during the run-in.
But Farke insisted he will not overreact to taking just one point from the past six available and said his side must continue to “prove themselves” in their remaining matches.
“If you want to finish in the top positions in this league you have to show consistency – the title is not won in February or March, it always goes to the wire,” Farke told BBC Radio Leeds.
“You have to prove yourselves every single game, we have some difficult matches coming up and we don’t take anything for granted.
“I know we can be better and much more effective.
“It’s a long road and it’s tough – overall this season we have been impressive, we just have to make sure we are a bit more effective in our upcoming games.”
At Fratton Park, Leeds had a number of chances to score but it ended up being a frustrating day.
They struck the woodwork, missed some big chances and were denied on several occasions by impressive Portsmouth keeper Nicolas Schmid.
They also had a big shout for a penalty waved away as Dan James appeared to be kicked in the box in the first half.
According to Opta, Portsmouth recorded an XG (expected goals) of 0.66 and Leeds 2.27.
“In terms of expected goals we were by far the better side,” Farke told Sky Sports after the game.
“We had one-on-ones with the keeper, missed chances, hit the bar – you have to take your chances.
“Sometimes you have a day when everything comes together, on others not. We have to accept it. It was not our day. We had enough chances to win the game.”
Leeds are at home to Millwall on Wednesday before travelling to QPR on Saturday.
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