THE capacity of the Camrose for Basingstoke Town's big FA Cup second round replay against Aldershot Town on Tuesday has been fixed at 3,300 - almost 2,000 fewer than the attendance when the club hosted Wycombe Wanderers nine years ago.

A massive 5,085 fans saw Town reach the second round of the cup by winning a penalty shoot-out back in 1997 - but the size of the crowd will be much smaller at the Camrose on Tuesday.

The decision to limit the capacity was reached last Tuesday morning when representatives from the club met with officials from The Football Licensing Authority, Hampshire County Council, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service and Hampshire Constabulary.

An inspection was carried out and the Football Licensing Authority's Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds was used to calculate the maximum capacity of the ground for this particular game.

The guide takes many factors into account, including the area the ground is in and the number of turnstiles and exits.

Commenting on the decision, Steve Duly, the club's commercial manager, said: "It is frustrating because there was the possibility we may have got a larger crowd and more money, but the most important factor has to be spectator safety."

Aldershot have been allocated 1,200 terrace, and just over 100 seated, tickets for the game, leaving Town with about 2,000 tickets in all. The ground will be segregated, with Aldershot given most of the Mansfield Road side and half of the Clubhouse end.

"This may sound like a lot of tickets to give Aldershot, but that is the number the segregated area holds and I would expect them to fill this allocation," said Duly.

"Even giving Aldershot this many tickets leaves us with 2,000 and, when you consider that our average attendance is about 600, there is no reason why any regular fans should be unable to get tickets."

Despite all of this, the game will not be all-ticket in an attempt to get as close to the reduced capacity as possible.

"If we made the game all-ticket, there would have to be a cut-off point after which no more could be sold," said Duly.

"If the tickets were not all sold by that point, we would not even be able to fill the reduced capacity, so the decision has been taken to leave it open for sales on the night, if it is not a sell-out."

Ticket prices for the game have been set at £10 for adults and £6 for concessions on the terraces. A place in the stand will cost £11 for adults and £7 for concessions.

The ticket office will be open between 10am and 10pm today (Monday) and 10am until 2pm on Tuesday.

Any remaining tickets will be sold at the turnstiles from 6.30pm on match day.