Postponement 'unique, bizarre, gutting' - Mousinho
Wednesday's postponement at home to Millwall was the second game called off in less than a week for Portsmouth
- Published
Portsmouth boss John Mousinho says he and his players were "gutted" their Championship match with Millwall was postponed on Wednesday night.
It was the second game called off in less than a week for the Blues, with frustrated boos ringing round Fratton Park after the announcement was made.
Saturday's game at Blackburn was called off after a failed pitch inspection, while a power cut put paid to the Lions' midweek visit.
"Just as I was about to give the speech of a lifetime to the boys, the power cut out in the changing rooms," a smiling Mousinho told 成人快手 Radio Solent.
"I then wandered out on to the pitch after and realised the floodlights had gone off too and that there might be a potential issue.
"It was a unique night and something I've not experienced in football before,"
"We were gutted about it at the time, it was bizarre and hopefully in a few years we can look back on this night and smile."
The floodlights cut out around 10 minutes before the match was scheduled to kick off with supporters initially jeering before eventually voicing their frustrations.
After about 40 minutes in the dark, the lights were slowly restored with both teams coming out to warm up amid a sense of optimism that the game could be played.
But due to some lights in the stands not working and issues with CCTV and timings, the match was called off.
"Suddenly the dressing room went dark"
The power cut out again more about an hour after supporters had all left the ground so if the game had eventually started, there would likely have been further delays.
Nearby seventh-tier side Gosport Borough also had a match abandoned due to floodlight failure on the same night but it is unconfirmed if the two incidents were connected.
"I'd assumed the game would be on when the floodlights came back on," Mousinho added.
"But there is much more complexity to it than that - with 21,000 fans in a very small area and there being various issues with safety and policing, the football came second at that point.
"As time went on it became clear that while the floodlights were on, there were other issues and it became more likely that the game wouldn鈥檛 be on."
Portsmouth head to Swansea City on Saturday in an attempt to play their first game in the league since they were last in action on 9 November.