Pompey were forced to wait 23 days before finally being able to take to the pitch again.
And their opening contest of 2022 at Cambridge was certainly an eventful affair – even if it did end goalless.
Both sides created some decent chances to turn one point into three, while Sam Smith was sent off for the hosts midway through the second half.
Danny Cowley was pleased with a lot of what he saw from his side, but accepted they needed to offer more in the final third.
The Blues boss said: “It was stop-start, fragmented game, although we had good control in the first half when it was 11v11.
“We probably just lacked that cutting edge and then Cambridge went down to 10 men after the break.
“You anticipate that it’s going to be easier from that point, but that isn’t always the case and you have to credit our opponents.
“They tried exceptionally hard and made up for the player they’d lost, while they managed the game very well.
"It was stop-start, fragmented game, although we had good control in the first half when it was 11v11."
“I know there were about 30 minutes from that point, but the ball couldn’t have been in play for more than 12.
“Sometimes we try to force things a bit, when that extra pass would be a better option to make some space.
“But we still had some good chances and their keeper had made an unbelievable save from Michael Jacobs.
“We have to dust ourselves down and the positive is that we’re 10 games unbeaten in the league, with clean sheets from seven of those.
“So we have to keep working hard at the top end of the pitch to turn these kinds of matches into wins.
“We weren’t able to unlock that door and ultimately we’ll be travelling home disappointed because of that.”
The game was stopped in the second half while the medical team treated a Cambridge fan who had fallen ill.
Cowley said: “Football means everything to us as we know, but nothing is more important than our health.
“The good news is that it sounds like the young man in question has recovered and on behalf of everyone at the club, we send our love to him and his family.”