Hebburn Town hoping for club record crowd for FA Vase quarter-final against Plymouth Parkway

The Hornets have sold more than 1,000 tickets for the tie and are now closing in on the previous record attendance of 1,310 that was set in last season’s Vase defeat against Northern League rivals West Auckland Town.

Kevin Bolam’s side could reach the semi-final of the competition for the first time in the club’s history with a win over their Western League opponents and Rutherford is hopeful that they will receive the support of everyone on South Tyneside and around the North East.

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.”

The attendance will be a far cry from the days when the Hornets were forced to issue an appeal after gates fell below 30 just three years ago.

The club has undergone a transformation during that time, and they are well placed to complete a successful bid for promotion into step four of the non-league pyramid.

And Rutherford is keen to make the most of a thrilling end to the season by continuing their historic FA Vase run.

“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.

Tickets are priced at £6 for adults and £4 for a concession.