Saturday’s Premier League match between Ipswich Town and Everton was delayed by 15 minutes due to what the home side described as “turnstile issues.”
The fixture at Portman Road, Ipswich’s fourth home game since their promotion, was scheduled to begin at 3pm but was pushed back to 3.15pm.
At 2.39pm, Ipswich released a statement via social media, explaining: “We are aware of an issue with the turnstiles, impacting supporters’ entry to Portman Road ahead of this afternoon’s game. We ask for your patience as we work on a solution.”
A follow-up message at 2.50pm confirmed the revised kick-off time: “This afternoon’s game will now kick-off at 3.15pm.”
Everton, however, attributed the delay to technical problems, tweeting from their official X account: “Due to IT issues here at Portman Road, kick-off has been delayed until 3.15pm.”
The disruption came just as Everton’s players had completed their pre-match warm-up. After learning of the delay, Sean Dyche’s squad returned to the pitch to continue their preparations.
Despite the minor setback, both teams were able to get underway without further incident once the issues were resolved.