Fans thought axed Town fixture was a 'wind-up'

Frustrated football fans have been left out of pocket again and scrabbling around for refunds after a match was abandoned for the second time in a month.

Ipswich Town were supposed to face off against Portsmouth on the south coast in a rescheduled Championship clash this evening.

But the clubs announced today that the fixture had been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch – just weeks after it had been rearranged due to a frozen playing surface.

Tractor Boys fans criticised Pompey's pitch and told the BBC they had been greatly inconvenienced by the two cancellations, in more ways than one.

Tim Kenny was two hours and 94 miles into his journey to Fratton Park when he pulled over and saw messages telling him the match had been abandoned.

He had taken two days off work and paid for a hotel, and was going to the game with his nephew, who he had given a ticket to for the original fixture as a Christmas present.

"When I saw the messages I did think it was a bit of a wind-up, but then I had a bit of time in the queue on the QE2 bridge to let the anger subside a bit," he said.

"I'm not sure now whether I'm going to just keep going and have a night out in Portsmouth with my nephew or turn around and go home.

"I'm not an expert but there's got to be some kind of minimum standards for pitches, or sanctions if they can't reach those standards."

The average January rainfall in Portsmouth over the past five years has been 90mm, but this January it was 205mm, according to the club.

Before these two games, the last time Pompey had a home game postponed because of the weather was in January 2013 against Notts County.

Tonight's match, which was supposed to kick off at 19:45 GMT, will be rescheduled on a date yet to be announced.

But if the game were to be rearranged for later this month, fan Andy Cumbers said he would not be able to go because he would have no further annual leave.

"I took a half-day off from my last day of annual leave, so I've lost that now and it's frustrating," said Cumbers, who was about to set off when he heard the news.

"It is unbelievable and I couldn't believe it because I didn't know the game was at risk at all – it makes it difficult to plan your life around.

"Portsmouth's pitch is just not up to modern-day requirements [or]d for professional football, especially at this level."

Paul Munnings said he also had not realised the game was at risk again.

"I was pretty frustrated, especially as I had just booked a non-refundable hotel for the night, but luckily the hotel took pity on me and refunded me," he said.

"For the last game we left really early and had virtually arrived in Portsmouth when the game was called off."

He added: "It can't be that hard to put covers on if you know rain is forecast."

Ipswich Town podcaster Craig Finbow, who presents the Blue Monday podcast, was meant to be driving to the match with his 18-year-old son, Oscar.

He, too, had lost out on half a day of leave from work, as well as money he had paid out in advance on parking.

"It's not unknown in this country for it to rain a little bit, and we've managed to play football games up here, even amateur matches," he said.

"So you wouldn't have thought there'd be two games cancelled for a waterlogged pitch in this day and age.

"I don't think you're going to get any [money back] from Portsmouth if they can't afford to employ a few blokes with pitchforks to get the water off the pitch."

Portsmouth FC said they would not be issuing a statement.

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