DES Buckingham says Oxford United must focus on what they can control after weekend opponents Millwall had their game called off last night.

The Lions made the trip to Portsmouth, but the clash at Fratton Park was postponed following a power failure.

The stadium was plunged into darkness 11 minutes before the scheduled 7:45pm kick-off, and it remained that way for 40 minutes due to a local power outage.

Players returned for warm-ups at 8:40pm, but the game was called off due to other lighting not returning and the risk of fans missing public transport links after the match.

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U’s head coach Buckingham went to Fratton Park with analyst Joe Moore in the hope of scouting Millwall, who visit the Kassam Stadium on Saturday, live in person.

He said: “We went to Portsmouth to watch their game, as we play Millwall this weekend.

“We spent six hours in the car, and had the floodlight failure when we got there.

“Getting back at 2:30am from Sheffield and then midnight has been a very busy week for us.”

Witney Gazette:

Buckingham believes the postponement can be spun as both a positive or a negative, but did highlight that three Lions players are a yellow card away from a suspension, so in theory, a booking at Fratton Park would’ve ruled out Romain Esse, George Honeyman or Japhet Tanganga against United.

“I think you can swing it either way, depending on how the games goes this weekend,” said Buckingham.

“If we come away with the result, you can say the disruption maybe helped us, and if we don’t, you can say they were fresh and they had three players who were on yellow cards, and if they’d got booked, could’ve been out of this game.

“I think the most important thing is that we don’t let it detract away. I’ve travelled with Joe Moore, the analyst, but we’re the only two in terms of the disruption for us, whereas everyone else has gone about their business as usual.

“I can’t speak for them [Millwall] and what that looks like for them, but for us, it’s about making sure we’re really clear on what we’re doing and we get on with what we’ve got control of.”

Millwall head coach Neil Harris said last night: “The football club here and the officials have been outstanding. We all wanted to get the game on, but health and safety comes first.

“It has been a long day for us, and we are eight games unbeaten, we were desperate to play.

“I feel for both sets of fans. Obviously, they will get a refund or get the chance to come to the next game but that doesn’t cover their travel.”