Vase: Poole semi all-ticket with 2,000 capacity (From Bournemouth Echo)

Vase: Poole semi all-ticket with 2,000 capacity

1:39pm Wednesday 9th March 2011 in Sport Exclusive By Phil Chard

POOLE Town have confirmed their FA Vase semi-final first leg clash against Whitley Bay later this month will be all-ticket with a ground capacity of 2,000.

Dolphins commercial manager Mark Bumford admitted they had turned down an offer from Cherries to stage the game at Dean Court on Sunday, March 27 because Tatnam Farm was “our spiritual home.”

The tie will go ahead at Tatnam on Saturday, March 26, with a 3pm kick-off.

Tickets will go on sale at Tatnam from 1.30pm this Saturday ahead of Poole’s home league encounter against Totton & Eling.

Bumford said: “Whitley Bay will be given 300 tickets and there will be 1,700 for the people of Poole.

“They will be available at the ground before, during and after our game against Totton with prices £8 (adults), £4 (children) and £1 (under-16s).

“Tickets will also be available at three outlets in the town from 9.30am on Monday.

“They are The Soccer Locker in the High Street, opposite the old Woolworths, the Dorset County Football Association offices at the County Ground, Hamworthy, and Jacobs & Reeves solicitors, 153 High Street, which is the registered club offices.

“Once the tickets are all sold, they’re gone, so I’d advise our supporters to snap theirs up early.”

Bumford added: “I want to publicly thank Cherries chairman Eddie Mitchell for offering Dean Court to us for this fixture.

“We thought long and hard about it.

“As much as we would like to play on a wonderful playing surface and use their fantastic facilities, and not be restricted on the crowd figure, we want to play at Tatnam because it is our spiritual home.

“Potentially we might have had 4,000, 5,000 or 6,000 come along to Dean Court to follow us on the Sunday, but we would lose home advantage.

“We might not make so much money this way but we want to get to the final at Wembley, so as attractive as Cherries’ offer was, we feel we’ll have the best chance of going through playing at Tatnam.

“Also, we know our game clashes with an England match, but we are of the opinion the people of Poole would rather watch Poole than England on TV.

“It will be strictly all-ticket, with a limit of 2,000 because we really don’t believe we can handle more than 2,000 at Tatnam.

“The level of interest in the game is unbelievable. We’ve never been in this position before, getting to the Vase semis.

“We’ve already had fans from Sussex wanting tickets and people from Southport wanting programmes.

“The interest this game has created is beyond our wildest expectations.”

The second leg is at Whitley Bay on Saturday, April 2.