Portsmouth v Derby County: Fratton Park braced as 2,196 Rams fans prepare to descend on PO4 for pivotal game in League One title race

Pompey v Derby on Tuesday, April 2, has all the makings of being a cracker!

League One’s top two sides going head to head. The Sky Sports TV cameras in place to broadcast the much-anticipated game between two historic clubs to the nation. Title ambitions poised to be cruelly swept from under the feet or reinforced to provide arrogant-like confidence over the closing weeks of the season. The fear of losing or making a mistake set to add to undoubted tension that will grip those lucky to be in attendance.

Thankfully, John Mousinsho’s table-toppers are on familiar territory for the grand occasion, with Fratton Park a setting that has witnessed just two league defeats all season and has the Blues boasting the best home record in the division. A sold-out home end should also help rather than hinder captain Marlon Pack and his troops as they head into battle. 18,000-plus buoyant Pompey supporters is something this current crop of players have got used to this season, after all!

However, it’s clear the Rams are planning to upstage their hosts as much as they can. Indeed, another selling point the fixture boasts is that all 2,196 tickets allocated to Derby have now been snapped up - guaranteeing an electric atmosphere from all quarters of Pompey’s historic ground.

Fratton Park has produced some rocking environments down through the years, with the recent ‘wall of noise’ against Oxford United proving once again the Fratton faithful haven’t lost their voice or ability to intimidate amid yearnings for a return to the Championship. What has sometimes been lacking is an actual occasion - but that won’t be the case in 11 days' time as the division’s best two sides square up, determined to crush each other’s title hopes.

A Pompey ticket is certainly the hottest in town at present - with all the Blues’ 2,600 seats for their trip to third-placed Bolton on April 13 taken within hours of being made available, and none going spare for the entire season run-in.

The presence of the TV cameras for the Derby fixture will provide some crumbs of comfort for those unable to attend. But Fratton Park will no doubt be the place to be for a match-up that will have so much riding on it.