Portsmouth promotion hopes boosted in bizarre fashion as Peterborough United stumble and Bolton Wanderers face fixture pile-up

It was a good night for Pompey’s promotions hopes as rivals stumbled at the top of the table.

And Bolton’s fixtures are now piling up, as Ian Evatt’s men saw heavy rainfall lead to their clash at Cambridge United being abandoned.

Peterborough United faltered as they played one of their games in hand over John Mousinho’s side, with their 10 men falling to a 2-1 defeat at Exeter City.

The record books will show Darren Ferguson’s men scored all three goals, but still managed to end up losing the game at St James Park.

Harrison Burrows put the home side in front from the spot in the first half, but Michael Olakigbe was then dismissed for a trip on Vinnie Harper in the 56th minute.

Reece Cole’s superb free-kick then cannoned into the net off the back of keeper Nicholas Bilokapic with 15 minutes remaining, before Jadel Katongo diverted a Cole free-kick past his own keeper.

Hector Kyprianou missed a great late chance to salvage a point for the Posh, on a disappointing night for their Championship bid.

Meanwhile, there was frustration for Bolton as their meeting with Cambridge was abandoned early on amid heavy rainfall.

That means the fixtures are piling up for Ian Evatt’s side, who have three games in hand over Pompey.

They now have 18 matches to play over the final 11 weeks of the season, and, with a likely international break to contend with in March are running out of options to reschedule the Cambridge match.

Evatt felt calling the game off was the right move and now wants it to go ahead as soon as possible.

He told the Bolton News: 'For us, we have both got a free Tuesday two weeks from now, so let’s get it on as soon as we can.

'Both teams wanted to play. The conditions then suit one more than the other, but that’s football and the ref made the right call.

'When he came over he said "I am a bit concerned, the ball isn’t rolling or bouncing properly" and he was concerned for player welfare. I said it wasn’t going to suit the way we play and Neil said "let’s get it on!".

'I completely understand that, everyone wants to win. We all want little advantages.

'We have only got one Tuesday free up to the end of the season, so that’s gone. It is a challenge, a test, but there is no way we could play on that pitch.'

Elsewhere, Stevenage failed to close the gap on Pompey to eight points with two games in hand, as they went down to a 1-0 loss at Reading.

Bristol Rovers lost 2-0 at home to Fleetwood and Leyton Orient were 1-0 winners at Port Vale in the other League One fixtures.