Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley reflects on EFL's decision to postpone Blues, Sunderland, Ipswich, Sheffield United, Norwich & Co's fixtures following death of the Queen

The Pompey boss respected the decision made by league authorities on Friday and admitted it’s easy to be critical when looking back in hindsight.

The Blues saw Saturday’s trip to Barnsley called off 20 hours before kick off after discussions took place between the government and the ‘sports sector’ following the passing of the late Monarch on Thursday.

But while the EFL and Premier League postponed their latest schedule as a show of respect, cricket and rugby union continued their respective programmes, with England’s third Test against South Africa at The Oval the centre of attention.

Indeed, Cowley used the match in the capital as an example of how football could have carried on under the circumstances.

Yet he understands the unprecedented nature of events made it difficult to come to a unified decision.

Speaking to The News ahead of Tuesday night’s resumption of play at Burton, Cowley said: ‘We live in a world where we are all quick to criticise. I understand that these decisions are not easy for anyone. We always look for consistency.

‘For us, I try to see the positives and it was unprecedented in terms of the Queen and her 70 years of reign.

‘I think it was the right thing to respect that, whether you did that in football’s way by cancelling the games or whether you did it in rugby union’s or cricket’s way, which was to play.

‘I think the way the cricket fans behaved, the way they showed their love for the Queen and the Royal Family was fantastic to see and the opportunity to celebrate what was a wonderful life.

‘In our position you just respect that people have to make decisions and adapt accordingly.’

Last week saw Connor Ogilvie and Ronan Curtis both become fathers after their respective partners gave birth to their new-born sons.

Although it disrupted their preparations, Cowley was adamant his side were ready to face Barnsley and wanted the fixture to go ahead despite the Queen’s death.

‘We wanted to play’, he continued.

‘We had a bit of a disruptive week because we had Connor Ogilvie and his partner have a baby and Ronan and his partner as well had a baby. They had a disruptive week.

‘We were ready to play Barnsley, we thought we had done some good preparation work and were ready for the game. That wasn’t to be so we turned our attention quickly to Burton.’