Portsmouth manager John Mousinho stands in front of an unlit stand at Fratton ParkImage source, Rex Features
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John Mousinho's Portsmouth have not played in the Championship since 9 November

Portsmouth's Championship game against Millwall was called off because of a power failure at Fratton Park.

The floodlights went out just before kick-off and the game was eventually postponed about 55 minutes after the scheduled 19:45 GMT start.

Pompey's game against Blackburn on Saturday was also called off because of a waterlogged pitch, meaning they have still not played since 9 November.

Portsmouth posted on X: "Tonight's match against Millwall has been postponed for safety reasons due [to] circumstances beyond the club's control."

John Mousinho's side fall to the bottom of the table following QPR's victory at Cardiff, although they now have two games in hand on the sides above them.

'Boos as announcement came'

The floodlights suddenly cut out a couple of minutes before kick-off, with some initially thinking it was for dramatic effect to build the tension before the game.

As the minutes passed, it became clear that this was not the case, with both sets of fans initially amused before becoming frustrated.

Loud cheers spread around the ground as the lights slowly came back on section by section, but other lights in the stands still remained off.

Boos then rang around Fratton Park as it was announced that the match would be postponed, and both squads applauded their respective sets of fans as supporters slowly made their way to the exits.

'Only logical decision' - Pompey CEO

Portsmouth CEO Andrew Cullen told BBC Radio Solent that they had to call the game off "in the interests of everyone's safety".

"We got to a point where the floodlights were back on but there was still an issue with non-emergency lighting and CCTV so we had a decision to make in terms of crowd safety," he said.

"There’s more to this than just 22 players on the football pitch. We had a capacity crowd here tonight and we did not have confidence that we could get through a whole game with some lighting not working in the stands.

"Then we got to 8:30 and then we had a further problem which was the last trains going back to London for the Millwall supporters, and they would not have been able to get those back so a decision had to be made.

"I’m incredibly disappointed and I’m upset that we had to call the game off but it was the only logical decision at that time to do in the interests of everyone’s safety."

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