Reading Women 0-1 AFC Portchester: Match Report

Tyra Wilson swings in a late free-kick Reading Women narrowly missed out on a place in the League Cup final after a 1-0 defeat to AFC Portchester at Arbour Park on Sunday. A goal in the eighth minute from Sarah Butterworth was enough to separate the two teams at the final whistle. It wasn’t for the want of trying, with Reading throwing everything at the Portchester team in the second half to get themselves level, but unlike Tuesday evening, the equaliser proved elusive.

It’s been a week of mixed fortunes for Reading after Tuesday night’s last-minute goal and 8-7 penalty heroics to knock out tier-four side Actonians and progress through to the quarter-finals of the Combined Counties Cup. On Wednesday, Reading will find out who their opponents will be in that competition, with the Royals facing the winners of Fleet Town vs Maidenhead United. Portchester arrived in Slough in confident form, losing just one of their previous eight matches (a 4-2 penalty shootout defeat to tier-four side Moneyfields in the County Cup), having knocked out Farnham Town in the quarter-finals.

Reading and Portchester have different ambitions from the last time they met, on the final day of 2024/25 (almost a year ago). Both teams are on an upward trajectory, with the Royals having already kick-started a new era, giving something fans to enjoy and look forward to, while Portchester are looking to go even better than last year’s third-place finish behind champions Ascot United and runners-up Wycombe Wanderers. The visitors are well placed in the league, having beaten Wycombe 1-0 in the league last weekend (the same scoreline that Reading managed against Wycombe in January ), and are currently 13 points behind the league leaders – but with six games in hand, and a home match against the Chairgirls in a few weeks’ time.

They also now have a League Cup final to fit in against Wycombe, who defeated Winchester City Flyers in the other semi-final. Reading manager Ed Jackson-Norris made three changes from the midweek cup victory with Emmi Tong, Lucy Bolitho and Nat Cowell all back in the starting XI. Keren Banduka and Tyra Wilson were both named among the substitutes, with Ellie Skekeres not included in the squad.