The Premier League new-boys thumped West Ham 3-0 via goals from Eliezer Mayenda, Dan Ballard and Wilson Isidor.
Afterwards, Potter said: "The result is obviously bad for us, and the second half was really disappointing.
"In the first half, I thought we were good. I thought we did lots well in terms of quieting the crowd down and creating some opportunities. We could have scored, I thought, but nevertheless, we felt OK.
"We started a bit slow in the second half, and from out of nowhere, a goal goes in and it becomes difficult. It was a game where probably the first goal, especially here with the environment, was going to be challenging for us. But we tried to push.
"But in trying to push, we opened ourselves up. The second goal’s a poor one - a mistake leads to a cheap set-piece, and then we didn’t do the basics well enough in the second phase.
"We haven’t done the basics well enough - it’s as simple as that, and we have to improve that."
Not much to like
Potter added, "Their first goal didn’t come from any fantastic play from their perspective, and I don’t say that with any disrespect.
"It was just a ball in the box that we have to do better with. Whether we thought subconsciously it was a comfortable one, I’m not sure, but that’s not good for us at all.
"In these environments, you’re never comfortable. You’re never safe, and we didn’t do enough at the start of the second half.
"Even though it was stop-start, we didn’t do enough, and there wasn’t too much to like about that second half from our perspective."