Dominant Blues unlucky not to win
Pompey played out a goalless draw with Crawley, despite dominating for long periods at Furze Lane.
The hosts fielded several under-16 players and were without top scorer Bradley Tarbuck, who is suffering with appendicitis.
But they carved out plenty of chances, forcing the Crawley keeper to make several fine saves.
Academy coach Paul Hardyman said: “I was really pleased with our performance – we were in control for almost the entire 90 minutes.
“We played with a really high tempo, worked hard as a team and applied plenty of pressure so Crawley were hardly able to get out of their own half.
“On another day we might have scored five or six, but a few shots were off target and their keeper made some good saves.
“Losing Bradley was a blow, but we were able to give our younger players some valuable experience and they all did a fine job.
Pompey: Bass; Davis, Field, Rutherford, Haunstrup; Rwakarambwe (Smart 74), Close, Nilsen (May 26), Kim (Gill 62); Chaplin, Horsburgh