Portsmouth vs Millwall abandoned due to 'safety reasons' with thousands in the ground

Portsmouth's EFL Championship tie with Millwall was abandoned for 'safety reasons' on Wednesday night.

Kick-off was initially suspended because of a 'power issue', with the match eventually called off over an hour after it was scheduled to start.

Posting on their official X account, Portsmouth said: "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."

A club statement on the website added: "Pompey's home match against Millwall at Fratton Park has been postponed.

"This is due to safety reasons beyond the club's control after a power issue affected lighting inside the stadium. The club will provide a further update in due course."

Millwall said on social media: "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. Fans in the away end will be safely escorted to the railway station once the home fans have left Fratton Park."

Millwall boss Neil Harris reacted to the postponement by saying: "The fans, the players that have travelled. Both sets of fans really, and nobody wanted the game on more than me and John Mousinho [the Portsmouth manager].

"I've got to be honest, the officials were brilliant. The officials were desperate for the game to be on as well. We understand health and safety has to come first."

He added: "It's frustrating, I cannot thank the fans that have travelled enough. I hope they all get home in one piece it was quite dark in that away end at times and hopefully everybody got out safely.

"I feel for them and a lot of that 2,000 who travelled will be at Oxford this weekend. It's one of those things in football, we don't like it, but we have to accept it."

Eager to score a few bragging rights, Portsmouth's rivals, Southampton, took a cheeky dig at Pompey, posting a photo of St Mary's Stadium captioned: "Football under the lights," accompanied by a lightbulb emoji.

A new date for the fixture will now have to be found, with both teams fighting at opposite ends of the table.

Millwall are well in the mix for a playoff spot, currently sitting in ninth, three points off sixth.

By contrast, Portsmouth have won two of their 15 matches this season and find themselves bottom of the Championship, staring an immediate return to League One directly in the face.