This is the extent to which coronavirus has decimated Portsmouth, Sunderland, Ipswich Town, Charlton Athletic & Co's League One rivals

Pompey’s League One rivals have reported a whopping 18 positive tests at their club - with 14 players impacted.

The Trotters have already called off their Boxing Day clash with Morecambe, with boss Ian Evatt voicing fears about sending his players to play Burton Albion on December 29 if they are able to fulfil the clash.

Boss Ian Evatt himself has tested positive for coronavirus, with their Lostock base closed until December 27 at the earliest.

He told the club’s official site: ‘We’ve had to close Lostock. We’ve had to take that decision because it’s literally running through everybody like wildfire.

‘Some people have no symptoms at all, some have been quite poorly with it.

‘It’s difficult and it’s frustrating but there’s nothing we can really do about it.

‘If we are following government guidelines and protocol, we will have the majority available or back out of quarantine for the 27th when Lostock will re-open, and then we’ll have a couple more out the following day providing they test negative on lateral flow.

‘I do think there has to be an element of common sense and fairness.

‘You are asking a squad of players and staff to rock up back to training, train one or two days and go straight into a first-team game.

‘We are already limited on numbers with injuries and I think that’s a real risk to have further injuries.

‘We will be in dialogue with the EFL, but as the rules stand, if we are strictly going black and white, it would be that we would have to play at Burton.’

Despite being decimated by coronavirus, Evatt is not in favour of a ‘circuit breaker’ to attempt to battle the disease’s spread, with his club now having to call of back-to-back home fixtures.

He added: ‘It’s a huge financial hit – especially the Boxing Day fixture. We’d have had back-to-back home games.

‘It’s not good. It’s not ideal but there’s nothing we can really do about it.

‘The main thing we can do, on my part as the manager and the rest of the players, is when we return we gain results and we start to win games consistently.

‘That will get our fans back on board and hopefully when these games are re-arranged we can have a similar crowd because that will benefit everybody.

‘We spoke about it with the injury list and what had happened and we’re now speaking about it with the COVID situation.

‘We have to have that siege mentality that we need everybody. We need the fans’ support. We need their backing and we need their financial backing because it will benefit everybody in the long term.’

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