The prospect had seemed so much brighter in the first five minutes when Reading stormed forward against a Portsmouth side that had been away to Dubai during the break.
Pompey held firm against that pressure, although David James made an emergency call for a cap to shield his eyes from the sun and the game deteriorated from that point on.
Harry Redknapp will presumably be happy with an away point and Steve Coppell happy that he stopped Reading's three-match losing run to pick up a point, but the fans cannot have been happy with the lack of entertainment.
Reading appeared to adopt a relatively defensive policy with Leroy Lita often playing as a lone striker, while partner Dave Kitson linked up from a deeper position.
Portsmouth relied heavily on the counter attack and it almost paid off for them nine minutes from time when Richard Hughes hammered a long-range effort against the upright with Marcus Hahnemann well beaten.
It was the closest either side had come to scoring in a game dominated by the defences.
Portsmouth still face injury problems, but did welcome back skipper Dejan Stefanovic who had recovered from knee surgery. For Reading Kitson was making his first home start since being injured on the opening day of the season.
There was also a brief debut for Greg Halford, signed from Colchester in January, who came on seconds before the end of normal time as a replacement for Stephen Hunt.
After Reading's exciting opening flurry Pompey had begun to create chances of their own, Arnold Mvuemba latched on to a poor clearance by Michael Duberry to fire high and wide.
Portsmouth were grateful to Sol Campbell six minutes before the break when he showed all his class and experience to rob Kitson just as he was about to shoot.
There was little change to the pattern of the game after the break although Gary O'Neil tested Hahnemann after another poor clearance by Duberry and Benjani Mwaruwari forced a superb 63rd minute save from Reading's American keeper.
Then came the Hughes effort against an upright which came so close to snatching all three points for Portsmouth.