Future is bright for Reading as young guns upset Portsmouth

Noel Hunt hailed Reading’s future as “very bright” after his youngsters won 2-1 to knock Championship Portsmouth out of the Carabao Cup.

Seventeen-year-old Andre Garcia and Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan, 22, gave the Royals their first win of the season after back-to-back 2-0 defeats in League One.

As well as Garcia, Hunt also started academy talents Ashqar Ahmed, 17, and Shay Spencer, 19.

And the Irish manager said: “This is the future of our football club. When you see the likes of Ashqar, Shay and Andre, the future is very bright.

“I think we were really good. Our boys were fantastic and the energy was really there.

“It’s not easy when you bring in a bunch of strangers and try and get them on the same path, but it is coming.”

Garcia bagged his first senior goal after poking in after Ben Killip had made a sensational double save to thwart Ehibhatiomhan, who kept his cool four minutes later to make it two.

Teenage debutant Tayo Singerr diverted in Adrian Segecic’s pin-point cross in stoppage time after coming off the bench but it did not put a smile on John Mousinho’s face.

The Pompey head coach said: “I thought it was a poor performance and a poor result. We got what we deserved.

“There wasn’t enough overall and it was disappointing. We made the changes but we expect more from the XI we put out.

“I thought we went under a bit after conceding the first goal, that isn’t acceptable. I think heads dropped and then we went 2-0 and gave ourselves a mountain to climb.”