Another day, another revelation about the ticketing situation for the “must see” game of the decade between the Albion and Aston Villa reserves. Yes, following the mad scramble for tickets and the initial panic over the club possibly having sold more tickets than they were allocated, another speedbump has come along in the road just when it looked like all was smooth.

As early as two weeks ago, fans who were not part of any of the clubs membership schemes realised that demand was going to outstretch supply and began purchasing tickets in the home sections of the grounds. When done in small numbers, it is a plan that often works with no hitches - indeed, even your writer has been seen in the home end of Upton Park when Guy Butters scored to give us a famous 1-0 win back in 2004. If you are able to keep a lid on the support of your team and act in a good natured way, there are little dangers to the escipade.

Trouble is, Albion fans aren’t like that. Once one posted the idea, and the fact it had seemingly worked on North Stand Chat, everybody else began to do it. There was even, ridiculously, talk of creating an “unofficial” away end within a home section of the ground. Bearing in mind the way in which a number of Albion fans kick off over the penetration of the South Stand by Leeds fans on their big day out at Withdean, it is understandable that Villa fans were not happy about this.

According to their message boards, the home supporters have contacted their club to inform them of those infiltration. Villa will, undoubtedly, have noticed that a suprisingly large number of fans previously unknown to them with BN postcodes are making their first trips to Villa Park. The result - any tickets ordered by fans who have no history of purchasing for Aston Villa home game and who fall under a Sussex postcode have had their tickets cancelled and their money refunded.

It’s not really suprising and a totally understandable course of action. Of course, Villa could have offered the Albion more tickets to sell out their allocation - but at the expense of their own fans? At the end of the day, had people gone about it in the way they always have done - hush hush - then there is a strong chance it could have gone unnoticed by the powers that be at Villa Park. The fact that a mindless few Albion fans decided to announce their cunningness in getting tickets in the home end and encourage others to do so means that a lot who would have gotten away with it no longer will

Still, for those who have had their home end tickets cancelled, it could be worse. Imagine how pissed off you would be if you were a genuine Villa fan from Sussex now unable to go. Now that would be a rant and a half…