Disgruntled Southend United fans were left out in the cold last night after a ticketing blunder at Roots Hall.

Dozens of supporters missed the start of the Shrimpers' FA Cup second round replay against Chesterfield when the upper East Stand ticket office ran out of tickets.

Fans missed the kick-off despite being told the start of play would be put back as Blues staff anxiously tried to resolve the problem.

And once inside the stadium many supporters found their seats were occupied and had to move into other parts of the black seat section or into the South Stand.

"It was total bedlam outside the ground," said one angry fan. "The East Stand green section was sold out so I queued up for the black section.

"I had nearly got to the front of the queue when the girl in the ticket office said they had run out of tickets and would have to print some more.

"A steward told us the kick-off would be delayed because of the hold-up but then we could hear that they had kicked-off at the scheduled time."

Another supporter added: "I was lucky enough to get one of the tickets when they were printed but the woman in the ticket booth said they would be taking money on the turnstiles in order to get people in.

"I got to where my seat was in the blacks and found someone already sitting there. "It was a nightmare for the stewards because more people were coming in and there was nowhere for them to go.

"I ended up watching the match up in the South Upper but what really annoyed me was that I missed Whelan's goal because I was still outside the ground.

"The club is always going on about people coming down to support the Blues and when they do turn up they can't even see the whole match."

A spokesman for Southend United said a number of fans had arrived shortly before kick-off which had caused congestion.

She was unable to comment further until after the club's post-match meeting today, where the problems would be discussed.

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Published Wednesday December 19, 2001