The Championship clash between Portsmouth and Millwall was called off on Wednesday night due to a power outage, leaving spectators in the dark for nearly an hour.
Sky Sports, who were broadcasting the match, reported that the club was “looking into an issue” at the stadium shortly after the scheduled 7:45pm kick-off time.
Just before 7:50pm, Portsmouth issued a statement: “There is currently an issue with the power at Fratton Park and it is being looked into. We will update supporters in due course.”
However, fans were kept in suspense – both metaphorically and literally – for almost an hour before the clubs finally announced that the match would not proceed. They posted on X: “Tonight’s match against Millwall has been postponed for safety reasons due circumstances beyond the club’s control. We will update fans further in due course.”
Millwall echoed this with their own post, stating: “Millwall Football Club regrets to inform supporters that tonight’s match has been postponed due to a power failure in the local area. We thank fans for their patience and support this evening.”, reports the Mirror.
“Fans in the away end will be safely escorted to the railway station once the home fans have left Fratton Park.”
There was a glimmer of hope that the game might go ahead when some of the floodlights were restored about half an hour later, and players from both teams took to the pitch to warm up.
However, those hopes were quashed, implying that the match will need to be rescheduled either before or after the hectic holiday season.
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