Pompey travel to in-form Reading for a Tuesday night encounter looking for a result in the relegation battle in the Championship.
Team News
Luke Varney and Dave Kitson might start as Michael Appleton looks to freshen the sde up after Saturday's defeat to Middlesbrough. Kelvin Etuhu and Kanu are still injured with respective hamstring and back injuries.
Andy Griffin is unlikely to feature against his former club due to a hamstring injury whilst Jimmy Kebe and Matt Connolly are also doubtful. Jason Roberts, once on loan at Pompey back in 2003, should start.
The Match
Pompey fans need to be united in their support for the team tomorrow despite the current division amongst those who want the club to survive at any cost, and those who would rather see Pompey liquidated if Balram Chainrai takes control again.
For now, if there is to be any hope of survival then escaping relegation to League One will play a part in any owner willing to buy the club. Should Pompey go down, there will be no more parachute payments and thus the club would lose out on around £16 million over the next few years.
However, this fixture could not have come at a worse time for Portsmouth. Reading have won their last six games whilst Pompey have failed to win any of the last six and just don't look like scoring.
There might be some hope that Kebe doesn't play and that with Varney's return, there might be some pace in the team. We can also take heart from the fact that our record against the Royals is very good and Pompey did beat them much earlier in the season.
However, I'm not expecting anything from this game and in all honesty, the result will probably matter little come the end of the season, if not before should the worst happen.
But there is still some pride to play for if nothing else.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Reading
GK: Adam FEDERICI
RB: Shaun CUMMINGS
CB: Kaspars GORKSS
CB: Alex PEARCE
LB: Ian HARTE
RM: Jobi McANUFF
CM: Jem KARACAN
CM: Mikele LEIGERTWOOD
LM: Jimmy KEBE
CF: Noel HUNT
CF: Jason ROBERTS
Pompey
GK: Stephen HENDERSON
RB: Tal BEN-HAIM
CB: Jason PEARCE
CB: Ricardo ROCHA
LB: Greg HALFORD
RM: Joel WARD
CM: George THORNE
CM: Hayden MULLINS
LM: Scott ALLAN
SS: David NORRIS
CF: Marko FUTACS
Click here for the Fratton Faithful Reading Championship Profile page.
Last Time: Reading 2 Portsmouth 0 (Championship - 02/04/2011)
After some early Pompey dominance the home side caught us on the break and took the lead through Shane Long's close range effort.
Kevin Friend endeared himself to Pompey fans once again after sending Ricardo Rocha off for an apparent professional foul on Long outside the box. To rub salt into the wounds, Friend then somehow awarded Reading a penalty for that challenge which Long converted.
There were unsavoury incidents at the end of the match as a small section of both sets of fans wanted to start a fight, whilst ex-owner Sulaiman Al-Fahim was chased out of the ground on this day to forget.
My Prediction
You only have to look at the form tables to see which way this is going to go. There is little hope here, I'm afraid.
Reading 2 Portsmouth 0