Preston North End fans snap-up tickets for the Lancashire derby clash with Blackburn Rovers

Initially, Rovers were only allowing North End to sell seats for the top tier of the away end at Ewood Park and intended only releasing lower tier tickets when the top was sold out.

However discussions between the two clubs and police saw things changed.

On Friday night with a decent number of the top tier still unsold, 2,745 tickets were released for the lower tier.

PNE put 700 of those on sale from 7pm which were sold-out in a matter of minutes and nearly 1,200 had gone by midnight.

Many North End fans were holding out for seats in the lower tier in order to generate a better atmosphere and be closer to the pitch.

In their last three visits to Ewood they have been followed by huge numbers.

Their 2-1 win there in March 2016 was watched by 6,984 travelling PNE supporters.

The following year, 6,005 of their fans were in the Darwen End for a 2-2 draw in which Aiden McGeady scored a 93rd minute equaliser.

Last season saw the biggest following of the lot, with 7,415 Preston fans making the trip to see Daniel Johnson net the winner.