Portsmouth v Sheffield Wednesday: the pre-match preparation blows suffered by Owls that will go down well at Plymouth and Ipswich

The Owls boss admitted there’s been disruptions aplenty to their pre-match work ahead of the Fratton Park encounter – and all because of the wintry weather conditions that have impacted large parts of the north of the country.

The latest inconvenience is an earlier than expected departure time for the team bus so that the Wednesday players and staff can escape the snow and ensure they get to Portsmouth at a reasonable time.

Most of the south Yorkshire region has been hit with heavy snowfall over the past 24 hours – and that continues to have a major impact on the League One leaders’ Pompey preparations.

On Friday morning some players and staff members were required to go fetch snowed-in team-mates and colleagues so that they could met up with the rest of the squad before heading to Fratton Park.

Some made the decision to stay at the Owls’ training ground because of the expected snow that fell overnight.

Meanwhile, the club's indoor playing facility was deemed unusable after its roof fell in undert he conditions. That led to coaching staff pitching in to help clear snow off the training pitch.

Essentially, it means Moore and Co have had to sacrifice important elements of their pre-match programme as they look to continue their 21-match unbeaten run in the division and their pursuit of League One promotion.

However, the Owls boss was taking it all in his stride as he prepared to make the earlier than expected trip to Portsmouth.

Speaking about the disruptions before setting off, he said: ‘That's what we're going to do (travel down earlier).

'I think it's just really Sheffield (that’s been impacted by the snow) and once we can get out of Sheffield, I think the surrounding areas as we head down south is a lot more favourable for us. With it being a long journey, I think we just want to get down and out of the way and get settled and get the team down south.

‘We all had (an interesting journey into work on Friday).

'And barring a couple of players that really got into a sticky spot, they all got in.

'It's great to see them all in really. But we're ready, we'll get the team coach here and get off as soon as we can.

‘We had a bit of a (training) session yesterday, we've come in today and we've gone in and used the gym session to get the cardio going and everything else.

'We'll get down there and then we'll do some more team prepping and everything when we get down south in terms of the game for tomorrow.

'But in terms of getting on the pitch and the physical elements of it, yeah it's been disrupted over the last couple of days because of the weather – but you have to be adaptable for these things and that's what we've had to do.'

The game at Fratton Park is under no threat, with the south coast not impacted by the wintry conditions experienced up north.