Hibs fans face scramble for tickets to Cup semi-final

HIBS today revealed they are to get 13,000 tickets for their CIS Cup semi-final against St Johnstone at Tynecastle - and the vast majority of them are likely to be snapped up by season ticket holders.

The allocation was announced today by Colin McNeill, Hibs' director of marketing and communications, and the Easter Road outfit have a record 10,500 season ticket holders who will get priority for the match on January 31 as will fans who purchase "half seasons" which went on sale yesterday.

Although it is impossible to say how many supporters will buy half season tickets, Hibs sold 900 last year and, if that figure is matched, only 1600 or so Cup tickets will go on public sale.

Arrangements for selling the tickets have yet to be made as Hibs won't take delivery of them until the end of this month.

But Hibs fans will be housed in the Main Stand, the Gorgie Stand and Wheatfield Stand with the Roseburn Stand, traditionally the away end at Tynecastle, being given over to the supporters of their First Division opponents who will receive around 3500 tickets.

The Gorgie Stand will be designated the family area where an adult ticket will cost £18 and a child's £10. In the other two stands tickets will cost £22.

Today McNeill said: "One of the advantages of being a season ticket holder is to receive priority in getting tickets for matches such as this and those who buy one of the half season tickets will get the same benefit.

"Depending on how many half season tickets we sell, and it's hard to judge, we would anticipate not too many briefs for the semi-final going on public sale.

"We've got 10,500 season ticket holders and last year we sold 900 half seasons. So if that figure was matched then there could be only around 1600 for public sale.

"The early indications are that the half seasons are proving popular once again. We'd anticipated a bit of a rush yesterday morning when they went on sale based on the number of inquiries

Taken from the Scotsman