Jean-Philippe Mateta struck twice for the 2-0 win.
Howe said: "We were disappointing today. Never really got into our best fluent rhythm. Disappointed especially with the first 60 minutes. We were nowhere near where we wanted to be.
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"Disappointed with our technical performance today, we are usually better than that."
On the penalty shout when Sean Longstaff was fouled by Will Hughes in the box, he said: "The penalty is a 50/50 call, it went against us."
On Callum Wilson coming back from injury, Howe concluded: "Callum's return is more than welcome and he gave us a different dimension when he came on today."
"There is a big opportunity for us, we can't let it (our season) peter out and we've got a big chance to quickly bounce back (on Saturday at home to Sheffield United)."