Reading 2 (Henry 36 pen, Sigurdsson 88)
Portsmouth 0

Glen Little played 67 minutes as the reserves earned a 2-0 home win over Portsmouth on Tuesday evening.

It was Glen's first start in exactly a year, and the winger will very much have benefitted from the runout.

He went close to scoring on a couple of occasions, but it was James Henry who opened the scoring with a perhaps generous penalty won by Emerse Fae.

Reading were completely dominant, and Adam Federici was practically a spectator throughout.

Sub Gylfi Sigurdsson added a late second to make the scoreline more realistic, and it was a comfortable win.

The visitors seemed completely content to defend for the entire 90 minutes, and it made for uncomfortable viewing at times. We never really had to get into top gear against a young Pompey side, and with more incisiveness we could have scored an absolute hatful.

Reading: Federici; Murty, De La Cruz (c), Duberry, Sonko; Cisse, Fae, Little (Sigurdsson 67), Convey; Henry, Long
Subs: Andersen, Kelly, Golbourne, Illugason

Portsmouth: Jordan; Cranie, Blackman (Reynolds 84), Page, Ward; Kilbey (Gbo 8, Walker 78), Pack, Hassani, Ritchie; Cowan-Hall, Subotic
Subs: Smith, Hughes
Booked: Subotic (dissent 85)

Ref: A Halliday

First half
James Henry was employed from the off in an unfamiliar striking role, and he was first to go for goal, but pulled wide on three minutes.

Glen Little has never been renowned for his scoring, but on six minutes he went close to marking his appearance with a goal

Reading were find their feet, and Kalifa Cisse struck a good left footed volley from outside the box but it was off target.

Pompey offered little going forward, and midway through the half Emerse Fae's backheel released Bobby Convey down the left. The American's cross came to Little in the area, and he showed great feet to find some space in the area but his shot was saved well.

Henry spurned a chance soon after, the Convey went close himself. Reading had virtually all the possession, but sometimes found it difficult to create against Pompey's ten men behind the ball.

Finally Reading's pressure became a goal as we opened the scoring from the spot.

Fae picked up the ball in the inside left channel, and skipped past one challenge into the area. As he nicked the ball past Martin Cranie in the area, the Pompey's man leg came out, and our Ivorian hit the turf. James Henry was quickest to pick up the ball, and dispatched the ball with aplomb.

Henry almost had another soon after as Adam Federici's long kick went straight to him, but he was off target.

Then Little had a chance with a backpost header but he was again denied his comeback goal.

Second half
The game continued in the same vein after the break, and Federici was an absolute spectator throughout.

Despite our possession we took until the 65th minute to get close to another goal, and Henry hit the bar with a cracking effort from Little's pass.

Glen was taken off a moment later, and he will have been happy with the uplift in fitness gained from his performance. He showed moments of quality, as you'd expect, and came close to scoring on a couple of occasions. He may not be 100%, but gets closer with each performance.

All of our chances were coming to Henry, and he smashed a volley narrowly over from Fae's cross. Next he dragged one wide when he could possibly have taken a couple of touches and gone further in on goal.

The opportunities were becoming all the more regular, and Fae pulled one wide of the mark.

With a couple of minutes to go, determined play from Cisse inside the box saw the ball run loose to sub Gylfi Sigurdsson, and the young Icelander lashed home into the top of the net for a well-taken second.

He could have had a second a minute later, but curled too close to the keeper.

Finally Henry had another go, but shot over the bar moments before the final whistle.

Look for a picture special and Reading World video highlights on Wednesday.