Blackburn Rovers’ Championship clash with Portsmouth has been postponed after Storm Bert made Ewood Park’s pitch “unplayable”.
The giants of Lancashire football were due to take on the coastal club at 3pm with an eye on closing the gap with other play-off contenders.
However, a pitch inspection at 11am ended any hope of fans cramming into the 31,367-seat stadium.
Torrential downpours ultimately left the pitch waterlogged, referee Farai Hallam declared.
In a statement, Blackburn Rovers said: “Due to an unplayable pitch caused by torrential rain, today’s match against Pompey at Ewood Park has been postponed by the match official.
“We will announce details of the rearranged fixture in due course.”
Around 2,000 Portsmouth fans had already began their journey to Ewood Park by the time of the announcement.
However, an early decision on the match, does give Pompey supporters time to salvage much of their day.
Despite many hours between the inspection and kick-off, Pompey fans were less than impressed after already embarking on their 270-mile journey.
Fans raged: “Disgrace for travelling fans. Why not do this at 8 or 9am?”
Another added: “Genuinely upset.”
A third fan wrote: “In this day and age how can a Championship match be postponed? We’ve just arrived in Blackburn.”
Blackburn Rovers’ clash with Portsmouth is the only Championship fixture postponed as a result of Storm Bert so far.
However, Bradford’s League Two match against Accrington Stanley was also postponed.
The turf at Valley Parade was deemed “unplayable” by the referee following torrential “snow and rainfall”.
MK Dons trip to Fleetwood was also pushed back to another date as the third football victim of Storm Bert was confirmed.
Post comments (0)