80,000 on way to wembley

Kidderminster Harriers will play their FA Trophy final in front of an 80,000 sell-out crowd at Wembley, chairman Barry Norgrove predicted today.

Harriers expect to sell more than 21,000 tickets for the May 12 showpiece final against Stevenage - more than for any game in the club's history.

Neutrals are expected to snap up any remaining tickets through the FA website.

This should ensure a sell-out crowd of 80,000 for the first history-making final to be played at the rebuilt Wembley, and chairman Norgrove today appealed to any fans still wanting tickets to contact the club before the FA puts tickets on general sale.

Club officials said today they were "thrilled" by the number of tickets sold so far but again made it clear only debit cards or cash were accepted.

Mr Norgrove said: "We had an initial allocation of 17,000, which we have sold, and the FA have given us an extra 4,000 tickets, which are already selling quickly.

"We expect to sell out this allocation this week and over the weekend.

"The FA have told us they want to sell the game out and any tickets that aren't sold by the two clubs will be put on general sale because there is a lot of interest from the general public in seeing the stadium.

"Early next week we have to let the FA know how many more tickets we want and that may be our last allocation, so we need anyone who wants a ticket to get in touch in the next few days to give us an idea of how many to ask for.

"At the moment if someone wants a ticket we can get them one, but that will only be the case for the next few days and then the FA will be selling them to whoever wants them."

Chiltern Railways is putting on extra carriages for trains from Kidderminster and Birmingham and all services to London on May 12 will be stopping at Wembley Stadium.

By Steve Madeley and Sue Smith