THE MANAGER of non-league Littlehampton Town is hoping the “whole town” joins for their special day at Wembley in the FA Vase final.

Littlehampton Town FC became the first ever team in Sussex to reach an FA Vase final after they beat Loughborough Students 4-0.

Joint manager Mitchell Hand said he is hoping for more than 10,000 people supporting Littlehampton as they play Newport Pagnell Town on May 22.

The Argus: 3,142 fans watched Littlehampton's historic semi-final win. Picture by Chris Gregory/Southern Combination Football League3,142 fans watched Littlehampton's historic semi-final win. Picture by Chris Gregory/Southern Combination Football League

On Saturday, 3,142 fans watched the semi-final at Littlehampton Sportsfield in St Floras Road, a record attendance for the Marigolds.

Hand said: “I think we will get close to 10,000 going up there. The demand for tickets has been absolute carnage. When you look at the pattern of our games, one of the games we had 1,200, then nearly 2,500.

“The semi-final, the only reason we had 3,100 was because we couldn’t physically fit any more people into the ground. You look at the interest we’re getting.

The Argus: Picture by Chris Gregory/Southern Combination Football LeaguePicture by Chris Gregory/Southern Combination Football League

“Every team at our level will be finished for the season so we’re hoping for people all around Sussex to support us. We want 10,000 there at an absolute minimum.”

“Credit to the vice-chairman Ady Baker who got the go-ahead for the temporary stands on Saturday. He got 1,000 extra fans in the stadium and worked tirelessly to get that.”

Littlehampton Town’s cup journey started back in October in the first round where they beat Moneyfields 3-2. Since then, the Marigolds have edged past Deal Town and Sheppey United 2-1 and 1-0 respectively.

The Argus: The Marigolds players celebrating last Saturday. Picture from Littlehampton Town FCThe Marigolds players celebrating last Saturday. Picture from Littlehampton Town FC

They lost 5-0 away to London-based Newham on January 15, but were reinstated after the home side fielded an ineligible player.

Littlehampton Town beat Brockenhurst 4-1 in the fifth round on penalties after a 3-3 draw in normal time on February 12. The quarter-final saw them beat North Shields after a late winner 79 minutes in to make it 1-0 on March 12.

Tickets for the final go on sale on April 11. The club has been allocated 6,879 seats, but this will increase if the allocation sells out.