Portsmouth Boss Pinpoints Silver Lining Ahead Of Millwall Showdow

But the Blues boss explained both he and Rovers boss John Eustace were ‘desperate’ to see Saturday’s clash at Ewood Park go ahead.

Both men didn’t see their hopes realised, however, as referee Farai Halla made the decision to call the Championship clash off after an 11am pitch inspection.

It does mean Pompey will be fresh for Wednesday’s meeting with Millwall however, with the Londoner’s holding high-flying Sunderland to a 1-1 draw on Saturday.

Mousinho told BBC Radio SolenT: ‘‘It was so frustrating for the travelling fans and I know a huge amount had made their way up.

‘So there’s a big shout out to them for us, because we know it’s one hell of an effort from them for absolutely nothing.

‘It’s a massive week and we felt it was a massive week anyway.

‘We felt in really good shape going into it off the back of the international break.

‘We have to take a silver lining in that Millwall’s game has gone ahead and they have to then travel to Portsmouth and we should be relatively fresh.

‘It’s something we have to contend with and we’re looking forward to the game on Wednesday night – and then we go again on Saturday up at Swansea.

Mousinho explained the process behind the postponement, with the referee’s concern relating to one key area of the Ewood Park pitch.

He added: ‘We were gutted it’s not on.

‘I got a call at 10.15am saying get yourself to the ground as quickly as possible, that was the first I heard of it.

‘I got down there for 11am and was on the pitch with the referee, groundsman and John Eustace. Unfortunately, the referee decided to call it then.

‘If you looked at the pitch from the side it looked absolutely fine and 90 per cent of the pitch was good. The issue was right in the middle of the pitch, there was gathering water.

‘They’d verti-drained it and done all they can to get rid of the water, but it wasn’t shifting.

‘At that point it was forecasted for rain until 4pm and it was going to take half an hour’s worth of clearing for it to drain completely, but unfortunately with the forecast there was no hope of that happening.

‘Both myself and John said we were desperate to get the game on, but it didn’t affect anything and the referee said he had to report it back anyway. Unfortunately in those unplayable conditions there’s not a lot you can do.’