Technology

FA Cup sides experience online ticket sale glitches

FA Cup minnows Plymouth Argyle and Lincoln City have experienced technical problems during ticket sales for their third-round replays.

Plymouth said that only club members with a booking history would be able to buy tickets online for their home game against Premier League giants Liverpool next week, with fans also limited to purchasing a maximum of two tickets.

However, the Plymouth Herald newspaper alleged that non-members were able to acquire tickets through Ticketmaster. It said at least one fan of the League Two had reported being able to buy three tickets for the much-anticipated game.

The newspaper also said that tickets were available online before they went on general sale at the club’s Home Park ticket office on Wednesday afternoon. Fans had queued for hours to make sure that they could be in prime position to buy one of the tickets on general sale at 2pm.

The Herald said online sales were temporarily suspended shortly after the allegations were made on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, non-League team Lincoln had to suspend online sales after an influx of fans became too much for the club’s website to handle. The Imps will host second-tier Championship side Ipswich Town in their FA Cup replay next week after drawing at Portman Road on Saturday.

While the club experienced online glitches, hundreds of supporters queued at the stadium from as early as 4:45am ahead of the ticket office opening at 9am.

The FA Cup tie – which is to be televised by the BBC – is now a sell-out for home supporters, but some away tickets remain. The average number of general sale tickets purchased was approximately four per transaction, according to Lincoln.

John Vickers, the club’s general manager, said demand for tickets was greater than it had been for several years. He added: “It hasn’t been this busy for a few years, it takes you back to the play off days.”