First half damage proves to be too much to recover from at Fratton Park, where the Blues bowed out of the Carabao Cup at the very first hurdle.
Substitute Tayo Singerr scored on his Pompey debut, but the 17-year-old’s late goal was not enough to take the tie to a penalty shootout.
Head Coach John Mousinho made a total of 10 changes from the opening day victory against Oxford United, with John Swift being the only player to keep his place and leading the team as captain.
Swift got 45 minutes against the club he spent 6 years at, with Andre Dozzell coming on at half-time to captain the Blues for the second half.
There were also debuts for Márk Kosznovszky, Luke Le Roux, and, despite signing for Pompey in August 2024, it was a competitive debut for Ibane Bowat, who missed the entirety of last season with a ruptured patella tendon.
Yang Min-Hyeok was also handed his first Portsmouth start, with the South Korean going on to play a full 90 minutes on both the right and left flanks.
As well as a first competitive start for Jacob Farrell since his debut against Sheffield United in September 2024, and Hayden Matthews, who played his first game since he was ruled out for the rest of the 2024/25 season after a 2-1 win at home to QPR in March.
The Blues controlled the early stages of the first half, with Yang Min-Hyeok posing threats down the left flank on several occasions.
Pompey came so close to taking the lead 15 minutes in, when Terry Devlin’s loping ball into the area was attacked by Kosznovszky, whose double effort at goal was saved by Reading keeper Jack Stevens, which left the ball kindly to Thomas Waddingham then denied by defender Michael Strickland, who cleared the ball off the line.
The Royals took the lead when Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan got onto the end of Ashqar Ahmed’s through ball over the top of the Blues back line, where he went on to be denied by Ben Killip in the Pompey net, but the ball fell to 17-year-old Andre Garcia, who tapped the ball home and scored Reading’s first goal of the season.
Ehibhatiomhan then got a goal of his own to make it two-nil, when the Royals' number nine squeezed his way past Hayden Matthews before calmly passing the ball past Killip’s near-post to score The Ding’s second goal of the evening.
HALF-TIME: Portsmouth 0-2 Reading
Ahead of the second half, Andre Dozzell replaced John Swift, as well as taking the captain's armband for the rest of the night.
Dozzell almost made an instant impact when his in-swinging left-footed corner was attacked by Jacob Farrell, but the Australian left-back’s header went wide of the Reading net.
Down the other end, there was a shout for a red card, when Ben Killip went to smash the ball up the pitch where it deflected off ex-Blues loanee Mark O’Mahony, to which Killip then picked the ball up from outside the 18-yard box, but referee Farai Hallam oddly gave the advantage Portsmouth’s way for handball from O’Mahony.
Florian Bianchini and Regan Poole replaced both Ibane Bowat and Thomas Waddingham just past the hour mark, with Adrian Segecic and goal-scorer Olutayo Singerr coming on for Luke Le Roux and Márk Kosznovszky.
Singerr then went on to make an impact when he was in the right place at the right time to head home Segecic’s curling ball into the area to claw a goal back for Portsmouth with two minutes of the additional five added on remaining.
However, despite the Blues’ effort in the dying moments of the game, they were left frustrated by Noel Hunt’s side and were defeated by the League One side, who sit rock bottom in the third tier.
FULL-TIME: Portsmouth 1-2 Reading
Next up: The Blues will be back at Fratton Park again on Saturday for the first time in the Championship this season, when John Mousinho’s side welcome Norwich City to the South Coast.
Liam Manning’s side were defeated by Alex Neil’s Millwall on the opening day, after they were denied a draw when Macaulay Langstaff cancelled out Josh Sargent’s second-half goal with an 85th-minute winner at Carrow Road.
Can Pompey continue their unbeaten run not only in league action, but in pre-season and all competitions? in a run that stretches back to that last gasp defeat at the CBS Stadium to Coventry City, when Jamie Patterson won the game for Frank Lampard’s side in injury time.
Portsmouth: 30. Killip (GK), 22. Swanson, 14. Matthews, 17. Bowat (5. Poole), 19. Farrell, 8. Swift (C) (21. Dozzell) 16. Le Roux (10. Segecic) 24. Devlin, 18. Kosznovszky (46. Singerr), 47. Min-Hyeok, 20. Waddingham (11. Bianchini) (Formation: 4-2-3-1)
Unused subs: 31. Archer (GK), 43. Ani, 43. Thomas, 48. Chioma
Goals: Singerr 90+3’
Bookings: Le Roux 53’, Poole 90+5’
Head Coach: John Mousinho
Reading: 25. Stevens (GK), 39. Ahmed, 22. Strickland, 12. Burns, 36. Ryan, 14. Rushesha (8. Savage), 47. Spencer (6. Fraser), 29. Doyle (4. Elliott) 19. Garcia (11. Kyerewaa), 28. Camara, 9. Ehibhatiomhan (20. O’Mahony) (Formation: 4-3-3)
Unused subs: 1. Pereira (GK), 2. Abrefa, 5. Jacob, 43. Okine-Peters
Goals: Garcia 34’, Ehibhatiomhan 38’
Bookings: Fraser 80’, Ryan 90’
Head Coach: Noel Hunt
Venue: Fratton Park
Referee: Farai Hallam
Attendance: 14,525 (Including 1,040 Reading fans)
The post-match analysis from tonight's game, fronted by Jake Smith, Charlie Sinclair and James Wilson, is available to replay here.
Tune into the next instalment of The Football Hour on Express FM this Friday (August 15th) from 6pm to hear further reaction to the Blues' early Carabao Cup exit and a preview of Saturday's Championship clash with Norwich City at Fratton Park.
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