A capacity crowd of 1,500 will squeeze in at the Artic Stadium to see if Cray Valley can finish the job against Charlton Athletic.

The sides meet in an FA Cup First-Round replay tonight (7.45pm), live on BBC2, with the winners away to Gillingham on December 2.

Steve McKimm’s Isthmian South East team bridged a gap of 117 places to force a 1-1 draw in the first meeting, thoroughly deserving a second crack.

The Millers have worked hard behind the scenes to get the game on at their home ground, helped by their League 1 opponents, who took care of printing tickets.

Cray Valley were cheered on by 2,000 travelling fans at the Valley - 500 more than tonight’s permitted capacity.

Some people have to miss out but, whatever happens, it’ll be another special night for the non-league club.

“It’ll be noisy, it’ll be compact, it’ll be good,” said Millers manager Steve McKimm.

“It’ll be enjoyable for everyone that turns up.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t get more in but we’ve got certain restrictions in place for safety reasons.

“It’s very difficult to allocate tickets but I’m pleased the regular supporters, the ones who turn up week in, week out, have been looked after.

“We were never going to change the venue to a bigger ground because that would defeat the object of getting the result we did at Charlton.

“It was never on the agenda to move the game, even if it was allowed.

“We wanted it at our ground, even though we knew the limitations and the problems it would cause. The club have handled it remarkably well.

“All those people behind the scenes, the ones that go unnoticed, they certainly haven’t gone unnoticed by me for the job they’ve done to make this game happen.

“Charlton have helped out massively as well.

“From what I’m told they offered to help in any way they could and they sorted all the tickets and got them sent to us to distribute.”

Charlton boss Michael Appleton changed his entire starting XI for the first game, introducing the likes of Alfie May and Miles Leaburn during the second half.

The Addicks have several players away on international duty, including Ashley Maynard-Brewer and James Abankwah and it remains to be seen what side Appleton selects.

Cray Valley, 3-0 winners over Erith & Belvedere in the league on Saturday, will do their best to be ready.

McKimm said: “It’ll be no different from the first game in terms of the quality they possess.

“They’ve got some players away on international duty but they’ve also got players who can come straight in and cause us massive problems.

“All we can do is worry about ourselves and when the teamsheet comes in see who’s playing for them and try and adapt and work out how to stop certain individuals.

“When you’re a non-league side, you don’t often get a second bite of the cherry.

“They’ll probably try and do better in certain areas that the manager wasn’t happy with - stuff he didn’t really divulge in the press - where they can make a difference.

“Whether he plays the same side again or makes changes, that’s down to Michael Appleton.

“I can’t second-guess him. He knows what he’s got in the building, what injuries he’s got, what niggles he’s got.”

Cray Valley embraced their underdog tag at the Valley and will look to do so again.

Their magnificent form means they’ll go into the game full of belief in their own ability.

McKimm said: “Our players have got loads of confidence about them, without being arrogant, although you need a bit of arrogance to be a good footballer.

“I think they’ve got that as a group where there’s no fear factor for them, there’s nothing to worry about.

“It’s a game of football that everyone wants to win and anything can happen on the night.

“If it goes in our favour, we’ll lap it up.

“We want the cup run to continue and, if it does, great.

“If it doesn’t, the players and the staff have done the club extremely proud and the club has done itself proud.

“We’ve just got to keep going and keep being happy about what we do - and that’s playing football.”