Saturday's meeting at Molineux could be pivotal to both sides, with Pompey still looking for their first point of the season and Wolves hoping to steer clear of the relegation zone.

Mick McCarthy will therefore welcome the news he could have two senior faces back in contention.

Stearman has sat out Wolves' last two fixtures with severe bruising to his leg, while Scottish striker Iwelumo has been missing since breaking a bone in his foot back in April.

Both, however, came through a 45-minute run-out for the reserves on Tuesday night and have now set their sights on earning a first-team recall.

"I was told I'd get the 45 minutes and then come off at half-time," Stearman said in the Express and Star.

"It was good to get that under my belt and hopefully there will be no reaction.

"Last night was all about testing it out rather than a fitness thing and I came through with flying colours, so hopefully it's a case of fingers crossed for the weekend."

Of the injury, the defender added: "I was very lucky - it was initially feared I'd broken something in the fibula area, but thankfully it wasn't anywhere near as bad, so I'm very pleased."

Iwelumo said: "I haven't put any date on it, I've just had a few sessions, but hopefully the gaffer throws me in at the deep end and I can be involved. I'd take Saturday - my fitness and sharpness will come back day by day, but I just want to be back out with the boys.

"The injury feels fine and now I'm just going to work on all the little things, get my fitness right and hopefully take it by storm. But getting through 45 minutes was the main thing, just to see if there was any reaction. I felt good.

"It was a massive positive because it had been close on six months since I'd played a real match and I had the butterflies before the match, so I was delighted to get out there. I've trained with the first team for three days and I've done a few days with the young boys as well."