Portsmouth 3 (Pericard 19,45, Todorov 71)
Reading 0

Portsmouth: Hislop, Festa, Primus, Foxe, Harper (De Zeeuw), Stone, Sherwood, Quashie (O'Neil), Merson (Diabate), Todorov, Pericard
Subs: Kawaguchi, Burton

Reading: Hahnemann, Murty, Shorey, Williams, Brown (Mackie), Newman, Harper, Hughes (Salako), Little, Chadwick (Henderson), Forster
Subs: Ashdown, Cureton

Ref: Mr G Cain

The Royals have lost 3-0 at half-time at Portsmouth, with two goals from on-loan Juventus striker Vincent Pericard and a third from Svetoslav Todorov.

But the bad news was tempered by the fact that Ipswich lost 2-1 at Rotherham, meaning a win over Grimsby next week would send the Royals into the play-offs.

Pompey started well, with Nigel Quashie testing Marcus Hahnemann with a long-range shot early on. Alan Pardew quickly had to make his first substitution, replacing the injured Steve Brown with John Mackie.

Although the Royals had their share of possession in the opening stages, it wasn't long before Pompey scored. Kevin Harper won the ball in midfield and sprinted deep into the Reading half before releasing Vincent Pericard, who rolled a right-footed shot across Marcus Hahnemann and into the left-hand corner.

The home side continued to impress with Paul Merson and Tim Sherwood dominating in midfield, but the Royals did have their chances - most notably when Nicky Forster broke down the right and rolled the ball back to Luke Chadwick, whose low shot was well blocked by Steve Stone. Ricky Newman also tried his luck with a well-struck 20 yard volley, but it was too close to Shaka Hislop.

Portsmouth went further ahead on the stroke of half-time, with Pericard netting his second from the edge of the area after his intial shot was blocked and rebounded straight to him. That left the Royals with an uphill task for the second half, and early in the second period Alan Pardew introduced Darius Henderson to support Forster in attack.

Pompey never looked in real trouble and occasionally threatened to add to their lead with Todorov scooping a shot goalwards from the ground after a good challenge from Graeme Murty, and Adie Williams had to be alert to clear off the line.

At the other end Nicky Shorey produced a good save from Hislop with a well struck half-volley from 20 yards, and Forster had a penalty claim waved away after getting goalside of Gianluca Festa.

The game was sealed for Pompey with 18 minutes remaining, and it was a fine individual effort by Todorov who sprinted forward from the halfway line before turning inside Mackie and slotting a low shot past Hahnemann from 18 yards.

There was another scare for the Royals late on, when Marcus Hahnemann raced out of his area but was beaten to the ball by Todorov on the left wing, and when the striker tried to lift the ball over the Royals keeper, he blocked the ball with his arm. With the home fans baying for a red card, the referee thankfully produced a yellow - then news began to filter through from Millmoor that Rotherham had scored two late goals, and all of a sudden a bad day was much better.

Full video highlights will be available on Reading World from 10pm on Tuesday.