Portsmouth fans vent frustration as supporters struggle to get tickets for Checkatrade Trophy final

The Blues will face Sunderland at Wembley Stadium later this month after a comfortable 3-0 win over League Two side Bury in the semi-final last month. 

Tickets for the final went on sale today for fans with season tickets and those who had been to at least one previous Checkatrade Trophy game. 

However fans have been left frustrated in their bid to secure tickets for the trip to Wembley on March 31. 

With Pompey supporters on Twitter reporting that the online ticketing service has crashed, that they've been thrown out of the queue and being stuck on hold for over 30 minutes. 

Steve Bone tweeted: ‘Anyone got through for Pompey Wembley tickets since 1pm yet? 143 redials so far and no joy.’ 

While Richard Marwood added: ‘Nope can’t get through on the phone & online is frozen. Oh joy.' 

One fan was forced to buy an adult ticket for her 8-year-old great nephew when he was given a seat on his own.

Mary Williams explained: ‘Well that was fun. Took nearly an hour to get #pompey tickets. Fine, I have no problem queuing.

‘I do have a problem with my 8-year-old great-nephew being assigned a seat on his own @officialpompey So I had to buy all adult tickets. Madness.’ 

John Hodgkins reported that he had been kicked out of the queue on the online ticketing system. 

He wrote: ‘I have tried online I was in the queue now kicked me out and can’t get back on saying no membership.’ 

This experience was echoed by Andy Matthewson, who said: ‘The site is not working, I added the tickets and kept erroring out when hit proceed to checkout.

‘I have had to remove them and go back through the process three times and it keeps doing the same. Now back in the queue from start again!’

A user with the handle @PragmaticFrog warned fellow Pompey fans: ‘If you’re buying tickets online you best load up the site as you’ll be placed in a queue.’ 

In response Pompey are encouraging people to ‘keep trying’ if they want tickets for the Wembley showdown with the Black Cats. 

The club tweeted: ‘Fans buying Wembley tickets are encouraged to keep trying if phone lines are engaged.

‘This will occur when the call queue is at full capacity, to prevent people being on hold for long periods and incurring charges.’ 

Sunderland fans have also experienced ticket issues today, with our sister title the Echo reporting that supporters had spent hours trying to get them.