With Pompey's first major European tie kicking off at 6pm there was the real possibility of gridlock with thousands of fans hitting the streets just as the rush hour got under way.

Firms had been asked to let workers go home early, and the media had been full of warnings to people to plan ahead and get to the ground early.

And it worked – traffic flowed easily, with fewer vehicles on the road than usual despite the football.

Barry Rawlings, senior traffic systems engineer at Portsmouth City Council, was delighted that there had been so few problems.

'We had a bit of a problem inbound on the Eastern Road for about 20 minutes but otherwise it has been fine,' he said.

'Levels of traffic were actually down – it was very quiet for that time. It was a big success.

'We had not done this before so it was a bit of a toe in the water to see how it went but it went well.'

He said that officers were primed to impose road closures if the roads began to snarl up but that on the night such drastic action had never been on the cards.

'People were well aware, prior to the event, and there was a lot of notice given via the media, signs, and letters going out to local businesses,' added Mr Rawlings. 'All that helped.'

The task of getting everyone home after the match was less of a potential headache for council officers, with the rush hour traffic long gone.

Traffic lights on the northbound Milton Road and Eastern Road were on a new special matchday setting, introduced only this season, with extended green lights helping to clear the city as fans filed home.

By 8.35pm the roads were clear and the relieved traffic managers were preparing to go home.