MATCHWATCH: Portsmouth (A) - EFL Trophy

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

@BBCBerkshire for the big game and a lot of banter!! Full live commentary with @TimDellor Full live banter with me!! Urzzz

At least someone's excited....

Anyway, it's actually quite a strong team tonight

GK: Jaakkola
RB: Watson
CB: McIntyre
CB: Gravenberch
LB: Blackett
CM: Kelly
CM: Rinomhota
CM: Frost
ST: Samuel
ST: Novakovich
ST: Mendes

Subs: Moore, Vancooten, Richards, Griffin, Bennett, East, Cardwell

Victory I believe will see us through to the next round

[sandman]

@BBCBerkshire for the big game and a lot of banter!! Full live commentary with @TimDellor Full live banter with me!! Urzzz

At least someone's excited....

Anyway, it's actually quite a strong team tonight

GK: Jaakkola
RB: Watson
CB: McIntyre
CB: Gravenberch
LB: Blackett
CM: Kelly
CM: Rinomhota
CM: Frost
ST: Samuel
ST: Novakovich
ST: Mendes

Subs: Moore, Vancooten, Richards, Griffin, Bennett, East, Cardwell

Victory I believe will see us through to the next round

Victory? At Fratton Park? That'll be the day...

[genome]

Yeah it's been over a whole year since that last happened!

[genome]

Actual live pictures





Rocking

[sandman]

Yeah it's been over a whole year since that last happened!

Oh yeah. It was a long year tbf.

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

Other notable ties tonight include Grimsby vs Leicester, Wycombe vs West Ham, and a huge Welsh clash in Newport vs Swansea...

Oh and Swindon are playing Oxford

Reading, Everton and Norwich were the only U23 sides to pick up victories in the last round of fixtures

In one of the 7pm games tonight, former Royals Academy 'star' Ikpeazu has put Cambridge ahead against Middlesborough (and yes these group stages are regionalised...)

[AthleticoSpizz]

Can't say that I am over-enthused with our inclusion in this farce.

For once, and even allowing for the fact that it is Portsmiff......I am sympathetic with their stance.

[sandman]

If they were playing Manchester United U23's the place would be packed.

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

Bradford don't appear to be taking the competition very seriously, only naming 3 subs tonight

And they've just subbed their keeper in the first minute of the game

[genome]

GOAL Novakovich

[Pepe the Horseman]

Bradford don't appear to be taking the competition very seriously, only naming 3 subs tonight

And they've just subbed their keeper in the first minute of the game

Bury 3/1 in-play...

[Humanistic]

Was it established last time whether these games count towards first-team appearances? i.e. has Novakovich just scored his first goal for Reading?

[tidus_mi2]

Was it established last time whether these games count towards first-team appearances? i.e. has Novakovich just scored his first goal for Reading?

I don't know the official answer but I would say no.

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

Start planning that Wembley route....

Since making his debut 18 months ago, goalscorer Novakovich has only played once for the senior side, the Birmingham midweek game that immediately followed our FA Cup semi-final defeat to Arsenal

He was named on the bench just once last year, and only started one game on loan at Cheltenham Town

Interestingly he was blocked by the club from travelling to the Under 20 CONCACAF Championship with USA last season as he was deemed required for the first team, he has since however failed to get a call-up, despite having 3 goals in 5 caps for the age group

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

It's actually quite strange that we are referred to as Reading U23, despite that age limit playing no part in the rules for this competition

"Each Invited Club must ensure that in each Match at least 6 of the starting eleven players named on the Team Sheet are players who were aged under 21 as at the 30th June in the year in which the Season concerned commenced"

So technically it's Under 21, but as we're allowed 5 overage players it's not really Under 21, so I'm not really sure

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

McIntyre goes off injured, and is replaced by Griffin who slots in at LB pushing Blackett into the centre

So in accordance to those rules, Griffin is officially an overaged player, despite never playing a match at senior level in his career

[Royal Ginger]

Dellor's doing his best on his own there, but it's not working. Not got a lot to work with though TBF. He could have done worse than having a 1st team player not involved with him or even a fan.

[Sutekh]

It's actually quite strange that we are referred to as Reading U23, despite that age limit playing no part in the rules for this competition

"Each Invited Club must ensure that in each Match at least 6 of the starting eleven players named on the Team Sheet are players who were aged under 21 as at the 30th June in the year in which the Season concerned commenced"

So technically it's Under 21, but as we're allowed 5 overage players it's not really Under 21, so I'm not really sure

I thought the FL changed that age limit to under 23 late on.....

[Sutekh]

Dellor's doing his best on his own there, but it's not working. Not got a lot to work with though TBF. He could have done worse than having a 1st team player not involved with him or even a fan.

He's got Ady to play with instead.

[Royal Ginger]

Dellor's doing his best on his own there, but it's not working. Not got a lot to work with though TBF. He could have done worse than having a 1st team player not involved with him or even a fan.

He's got Ady to play with instead.

Him not actually being there is making it clunky and awkward.