Crystal Palace ready to challenge reduced ticket allocation for Brighton FA Cup tie

Crystal Palace are unhappy they could receive an away allocation of just 2,000 tickets for January's FA Cup tie at Brighton.

Competition rules allow for an away allocation of up to 15 per cent of the home stadium, meaning Palace would be permitted a maximum of around 4,600 tickets.

But early indications suggest Palace would receive less than half that figure and the club are preparing to challenge that decision.

Palace are also unhappy with the decision to switch their Cup tie at the Amex Stadium to a Monday night.

The club’s anger comes as Sussex police apologised for falsely claiming Palace fans used weapons to force their way into last month’s 0-0 draw at Amex Stadium.

The third-round tie between the sides has been moved to a 7.45pm kick-off on January 8 and will be shown live on BT Sport.

It is understood Palace fear a night game will raise fresh security concerns around the fixture at Amex Stadium.

The FA say all kick-off times are approved by the the local Safety Advisory Group, which is made up of the police, the local council, the fire brigade and the home club.

Palace warned about the potential security risks of a late kick-off before their Premier League fixture 11 days ago and they fear the authorities have not learned from what took place.

There were chaotic scenes as Palace fans without tickets stormed a turnstile and overpowered stewards amid chaos. As a result, hundreds of supporters were denied entry into the ground.

Two stewards were taken to hospital and six people arrested, while there was criticism of the policing.

Chief Inspector Simon Nelson, who led the police operation for the match, said that a number of Palace fans had “knives and knuckledusters” at Amex Stadium. However, Sussex police were yesterday forced into an embarrassing climbdown after they admitted the statement was wrong.

Palace supporters were today demanding answers about why an incorrect statement was released.

“We would like to understand the process involved in determining what the original statement from Sussex police would contain and whether either club were notified or consulted on the content of that statement,” said Robert Sutherland, who edits Palace fanzine Five Year Plan. “We want to understand where the information came from that weapons had been obtained by police, and to understand how a statement was released which clearly had incorrect elements.”

Brighton accused a minority of Palace supporters of being “intent on causing disorder” and Sussex police described the trouble caused around the game as a “return to the dark days of football”.

Palace play Bournemouth at Selhurst Park tomorrow and Wayne Hennessey’s return to fitness has given manager Roy Hodgson a dilemma over who to play in goal.