Paul Scally has admitted that Gillingham mishandled the sale of FA Cup tickets for their own fans.

Queues formed in the early hours at Priestfield last Monday, with supporters wishing to bag a seat for the match against Stoke City, on Saturday, January 7.

The Gills allowed fans wishing to buy tickets for last weekend’s match against Bristol Rovers to get their Stoke ticket at the same time. That angered season ticket holders who felt they were entitled to be served first.

Chairman Mr Scally, pictured, admitted: "Making arrangements for a big cup match is always a challenge and we have to own up to the fact that, on this particular occasion, we did not perform as well as we would have liked.

"It was a mistake to combine giving the preference we like to give to season ticket holders with our decision to link sales for (Saturday’s) game with the opportunity to buy cup tickets.

"The result was an exhausting day for the ticket office staff, who tried to deal with all the personal visitors to the stadium. This meant all those supporters who tried to contact us by phone were dealt with by our call centre staff, who were only able to take numbers and arrange a call back."

Tickets for the cup match went on general sale on Wednesday, as the last 1,000 seats became available.