Woking slipped to a narrow 2-1 defeat against Championship outfit Portsmouth in their first home game of pre-season.

Harrison Sohna was on target for the Cards, but goals from Colby Bishop and Thomas Waddingham gave the visitors the victory in front of a crowd of 1,012 at the Laithwaite Community Stadium.

The visitors had the first attempt at goal of the evening in the fourth minute, when Bishop’s effort was blocked by Chin Okoli and went out for a corner.

The Cards went close a minute later when Sean Adarkwa drove forward and played in Ashley Clarke, whose effort was pushed behind for a corner.

Woking had an even better chance on 15 minutes when Sohna was played in on goal, but his low effort was well blocked by Pompey keeper Nicholas Schmid.

Pompey took the lead in the 28th minute when Jordan Williams slipped a pass through to John Swift, whose rabona picked out the unmarked Bishop in the middle of the box, who fired his right-footed volley past Cards keeper Will Jaaskelainen.

The Cards should have got back on level terms four minutes later when Matt Ward got clear down the right-hand side and his cross picked out the unmarked Adarkwa, who hit his close-range finish straight at Schmid.

Woking did get their equaliser on 37 minutes when Sohna got the ball just outside the box and fired his right-footed finish into the bottom left-hand corner past Schmid.

Pompey made 11 changes at half-time, while the Cards remained unchanged.

The visitors had the first chance of the second half in the 49th minute when Adrian Segecic’s free kick from the left picked out Hayden Matthews, who failed to get his header on target.

Pompey regained the lead on 55 minutes when Waddingham received the ball on the edge of the box and clinically picked out the bottom right-hand corner of the net.

Woking boss Jermain Defoe made nine changes in the 61st minute, with Craig Ross, Tariq Hinds, Timi Akinola, Josh Ayres, Aiden O’Brien, Josh Kelly, Trialist A, Trialist B and Trialist C replacing Jaaskelainen, Okoli, Zico Asare, Ward, Roy Syla, Jake Forster-Caskey, Clarke, Sohna and Adarkwa.

The visitors nearly scored a third on 68 minutes when Matthews’ through ball found Eoin Kenny, whose cutback picked out Segecic, but Segecic’s low effort fizzed just wide of the near post.

Defoe made his tenth change of the evening on 71 minutes, with Tom Dryer replacing Timi Odusina.

The Cards nearly got back on level terms two minutes later when Kelly worked the ball down the left-hand side and found Ayres in the box, whose effort went wide of the post.

Pompey then almost went 3-1 up when the ball broke to Odin Bailey on the edge of the box, whose effort rattled the underside of the crossbar.

Woking almost equalised in the 80th minute when Caleb Richards slipped a pass through to Kelly, who worked half a yard of space and fired his curling right-footed effort from the edge of the box just over the bar.

The Cards went close again on 90 minutes when Tariq Hinds cut in from the right and saw his powerful effort parried behind for a corner by Killip.

Next up for Woking is a pre-season friendly at National League South outfit Braintree Town on Tuesday, July 21 (7.45pm kick-off).