EWOOD chief executive John Williams is confident Rovers will sell their full allocation of tickets for the Worthington Cup final after the club reported brisk business during the opening week of sales.

Rovers have been allocated just under 30,000 tickets for the showpiece final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on February 24.

And eager fans have already snapped up close to 13,500 of that quota since they went on sale to season-tickets holders last Saturday as Cup fever sweeps through the town.

"By the close of play yesterday, our estimates suggested around 13,500 had gone which means somewhere in the region of 85 per cent of season ticket holders have now claimed their seats, which is a fantastic response," said Williams.

"The rest of our allocation will now go on open sale to non-season ticket holders from today and we are expecting a busy weekend at the ticket office.

"We are doing everything we possibly can to make life as easy as possible for those people queuing up and we will be opening the concourses to try and ease the congestion.

"But I hope people can appreciate there's no easy way of doing this so I would ask everyone to bear with us as we try to make things as smooth as possible."

Some fans queued for several hours last weekend as the Ewood ticket office was bombarded with enquiries by season-ticket holders hungry to claim their seats.

And the club are anticipating a similar rush this weekend as all remaining tickets now go on open sale to non-season ticket holders who have attended two or more home Premier League games this season.

The ticket office was due to be open from 9am until 4pm today and from 9am until 4pm tomorrow for personal applications.

Telephone applications can also be made between these hours.

Normal opening times, 9 am to 5.30 pm (9.30 am on Thursdays), will then apply from Monday to Friday.

Supporters should provide evidence of their match attendance by producing relevant ticket stubs from the matches.

They may purchase a maximum of two tickets per person based on their buying history eg: If you buy one ticket on a regular basis, you can purchase one ticket.

If you purchase two or more tickets on a regular basis, you can buy two tickets (which is the maximum).

Applications can be made in person, by telephone or post.

Supporters who have attended two home league matches this season but do not possess the appropriate stubs, should provide details of the matches attended and will be verified by the club's database.

If you have the stubs, then please have them with you, even when purchasing by telephone.

Supporters applying by post should nominate the price of seat they are applying for.

Ticket allocations cannot be guaranteed, however, so fans should include credit card details or an open cheque detailing 'not to exceeed the maximum value you wish to pay for a ticket i.e write: 'do not exceed £50' at the top of the cheque.

All cheques should be made payable to 'The Football League Limited' and take into account a £3.50 admin charge.

Such applications must be received by Tuesday, February 12, 2002.