Cup clash may be a sell-out

COVENTRY City’s FA Cup game against Birmingham City is heading for a sell-out of available seating after the fourth round tie attracted plenty of interest from both sets of supporters.

The Sky Blues have sold around 9,500 tickets for Saturday’s game against Championship Blues at St Andrew’s, where Coventry are the ‘home’ side on the day.

All of the available blocks for the Tilton Road Stand – where the hardcore Birmingham fans usually sit – are now sold apart from around 1,000 which are being reserved for Coventry season ticket holders who had up until midnight on Monday to buy their tickets.

Any left over will be released for non-season ticket holders to purchase.

Coventry are unable to use all of the Tilton Road Stand due to the unique segregation on the day, the stadium layout and the location of the turnstiles for this area being in the same corner as those in the Main Stand that will be used by Birmingham City fans.

Blues, meanwhile, had sold over 8,000 of their 9,260 allocation in their own ground as of 11am yesterday, which means the game is heading for a gate of close to 20,000.

“It will be great if the place is full although we won’t be used to people behind us, so I’d imagine we’ll get some abuse,” joked City first-team coach Jason Farndon looking ahead to the match.

“It’s great for the club and the city and it’s something we all look forward to.

“Apart from getting one of the big Premier League boys, it’s probably the tie that attracts the most interest for the city.”