Pompey have one foot in the Leasing.com Trophy knockout stages following their second Southern Group B victory.
Ellis Harrison bagged a brace, while Josh Flint netted on his senior debut to secure a 3-1 win over Norwich’s under-21 side.
It was a deserved result against a youthful outfit who looked neat in possession, but did little to trouble Alex Bass between the sticks.
And Joe Gallen was pleased with the Blues’ attacking edge, as well as a substitute appearance for the fit-again Ryan Williams.
Pompey’s assistant manager said: “It was relatively comfortable. A lot of the under-21 teams play eye-catching football in the middle of the park, but don’t create too many chances.
“For these Premier League clubs in the competition it’s all about development and they have a style of play to match that.
“But the idea is to score goals and we looked pretty potent in attack – I thought we were going to score more than we did.
"We’re in the results business, but we try to have a balance between short and long passing."
“We’re in the results business, but we try to have a balance between short and long passing, and also got some nice goals.
“It was also pleasing to see Ryan Williams back out on the pitch. He’s a good personality to have around and will definitely be in the squad against Burton on Tuesday night.”
Flint was flanked by Leon Maloney and fellow debutant Eoin Teggart in a youthful attacking midfield trio behind Harrison.
Gallen said: “Teggart showed a lot of acceleration out on the wing and there were times when he ate up 20 or 30 yards pretty quickly.
“He then had the composure to deliver some accurate crosses into the box and that was pleasing because finding left-footed players with pace is very difficult.
“Leon played in the previous fixture here against Crawley and did well in that one – and it was the same again.
“And Josh has got a good footballing brain. We were all very pleased that he capped his performance with a goal.
“We have got a lot of attacking options at the moment, especially with Williams now coming back as well.
“There are so many high-quality players and these young lads have to get past them, which is going to be tough, but they’re still developing and will probably get games out on loan at some point.”