Hebburn Director of Football Stephen Rutherford issues rallying call ahead of Plymouth Parkway FA Vase clash

Hebburn Town Director of Football Stephen Rutherford has issued a rallying call to the people of South Tyneside ahead of the club’s FA Vase quarter-final clash with Plymouth Parkway this Saturday (3pm kick off).

And Rutherford also said that ticket sales are “going well” with over 1,000 tickets now sold as they look to break the club attendance record of 1,310 set last season against West Auckland in the Vase.

He said: “Ticket sales are going well at the moment, we’ve given 150 tickets to Plymouth – they’re not sure if they’ll sell them all because it is a horrendous journey for them, especially for a fan you’re talking eight hours on a coach.

“We’d like the final push this week, we’ve sold just over 1,000 tickets which is fantastic. I’m pretty confident (we’ll break our attendance record) but we need the people of the town and the borough to get behind us.

“There’s not a lot of games at home that weekend so we’re hoping that even if you’ve never watched non-league football, we can entice you to come along and watch this one.”

Online ticket sales end today (Monday) and fans can email htfctickets@gmail.com with their details for tickets to be sent to them, with a £1 admin fee on top of the tickets.

In a message to fans who haven’t bought their tickets yet, Rutherford said: “The message I’ve got to them is non-league football is the future and if you’ve never been to a non-league game, it’s not all bells and whistles in terms of million pound players on show it’s young local lads who go to work during the day, come and play football as a hobby on an evening or a weekend but they’re passionate about the town, they’re passionate about the club.

“It’s £6 to get in for an adult, £4 for a concession, it’s a good day out for a family so please just give it a try. If you give it a try in this game and you enjoy it then that’ll do us.”

The game, which is between the two bookies’ favourites for the FA Vase, will see the winners progress to a two-legged semi-final and if they win that they will travel down to Wembley for the final in May.

Rutherford has stressed a win on Saturday would be “huge” for South Tyneside.

“We can’t lie, the FA Vase was one of our targets this year and if we win the quarter-final, first of all for the club, for the town it’ll be huge for South Tyneside,” he said.

“We don’t get many South Tyneside teams at this stage in the semi-final or a final. I think on Saturday, back here in the Sports Club if we win it’ll be absolutely bouncing and that’s what it’s about and then you’re guaranteed a home game in the semi-final cause it’s over two legs so probably another huge crowd, another big occasion for the town and the club and everyone involved.

“It’s a big payback for the volunteers, the likes of myself, Vin the chairman and the owners who put a lot into it.

“If we can get into a semi-final, dare I say a final it’d just be magnificent so we can’t underestimate how much of a huge game it is and if we get through how superb it’d be.”

Tickets for the game are available from behind the bar at Hebburn Sports Club up until Saturday.