Portsmouth and Bristol City fans wait for updates as Storm Darragh hits UK

Storm Darragh has finally hit the UK, bringing with it winds of 90mph to parts of the country - including the south west and the Bristol area.

A rare red weather warning between the hours of 3am and 11am has been issued by the Met Office for people in those affected areas, which will no doubt impact Robins fans as they ponder whether to make the 120-mile trip to the south south.

More than 2,000 Bristol City fans have bought tickets for the Championship fixture, which would ensure a sold-out Milton End for the 3pm kick-off. Those supporters have also seen games at Plymouth and Cardiff already called off as people are advised to stay at home, with Bristol Rovers’ League One home game against Bolton cancelled at 8.30am this morning for safety reasons.

Train services from Bristol Parkway station to Fratton Park have also been cancelled in the past hour.

Portsmouth currently has a yellow weather warning in place for strong winds up until 6am on Sunday morning. Gusts of approximately 50mph-plus are expected around Fratton Park during the time of the scheduled game.

That prompted Pompey to publish a statement on Friday evening as they told fans that there were no plans to cancel the match at that time. They stated thay they would keep fans informed if the situation changed.

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But as fans wake up this morning, many are waiting to hear whether or not they should start making plans to head to Fratton Park.

@PompeyFlag wrote on X: ‘Rough on Hayling this morning.....will things be okay later for the #Pompey game?.....Wind is reading 71.88mph in the back garden at the moment (6am). Hope it calms down, we don't need more games in hand, but of course it's safety first.’

@petelockyer commented: ‘Been working in Farlington all night it's really not that bad! Only seen two cows, a milkman and a few wheelie bins fly past! Nothing to stop a game of football. Game on! Three points #pompey.’

Meanwhile, @GeorgePFC96 wrote: ‘Game will be on, it’s meant to ease up soon. It’s pretty dry as well so don’t see why it would be called off,’

Deciding not to make the journey from Bristol due to uncertainty that the game will take place, Robins fans @jack_buchanan said: ‘Decided against making the trip down to Portsmouth. To be honest I’m fairly sure the game will get called off anyway once they realise most away fans can’t/wont get there.’

Accordiing to The News’ Jordan Cross (via X), conditions will be assessed rhis monring, with consideration given to fans travelling safely to and from Fratton Park.

At present, Portsmouth is experiencing gusts of 60mph.