PORTSMOUTH have asked Sunderland for more tickets for this Saturday’s play-off semi-final first leg at the Stadium of Light after having their allocation significantly reduced.

The Black Cats have handed Pompey only 2,000 tickets following the incident which marred the last meeting between the two teams on Wearside when a pyrotechnic device appeared to be thrown from the away end on to home fans.

Now Sunderland have moved to give Portsmouth the minimum amount that EFL rules dictate clubs must hand over for such a semi-final. There were 3,222 tickets sold for that meeting on April 27.

Portsmouth chief executive Mark Catlin said: "Obviously our ticket allocation is a decision for Sunderland – and I believe it to be as a result of their safety advisory group’s recommendation.

"We are in constant contact to see if we can get that increased but, unfortunately, our last game had a few incidents and I believe has had an adverse effect.

"From my understanding, before our last game at Sunderland, the club were very nervous as a result of what happened with Coventry.

"The information is there were some widely-reported incidents from our recent fixture – and their safety advisory group have subsequently taken the decision to just give us 2,000 tickets.

"It is under review, we are still working with Sunderland on it, and hopefully that can be increased.

"When it comes to the safety advisory group, the club (Sunderland) have an input but don’t have the final say. We have no input, it is down to the home club and the safest way they feel they can manage a game at their stadium.

"When we played there, there were a number of incidents on the day. Not all were necessarily Pompey-related, however, concerns have been raised.

"It’s Sunderland’s event, 2,000 tickets is the minimum requirement, which they have met, and really it is down to them. There’s not a lot we can influence.”