SAINTS club secretary Liz Coley has insisted that Brentford turned down the chance of an extra 1,000 tickets for Saturday's FA Cup fifth round tie at St Mary's.

Rumblings are continuing behind the scenes as to who is to blame for Brentford fans allegedly trying to buy tickets for the Saints section after their allocation sold out quickly.

But contrary to what the London club have claimed, Saints say Brentford initially requested just 3,200 rather than 4,200 and only changed their minds after their fourth round replay win over Hartlepool - just six days before the tie with Saints.

Coley said: "Brentford were offered 4,200 tickets on a guaranteed sale basis or 3,200, 2,400 or 1,800 sale or return. They called on February 3 and stated that they would take the allocation of 3,200 as they could not guarantee the sale of 4,200.

"At this point we had internal discussions regarding the guaranteed sale figure and decided that we could adjust this to 3,700 to try and help their situation.

"Brentford declined this offer.

"Contrary to the article on their website, Brentford's request for extra tickets only came through on Sunday, February 13, some ten days after they had agreed on their allocation of 3,200.

"By this date we had sold approximately 80 per cent of the seats in the adjacent block to the away supporters as this is a very popular part of our stadium and moving these fans would have been impossible.

"In our earlier discussions, however, Brentford were not told that the extra 1,000 tickets were only available to them without concessions. This is not a policy that the club operates in these areas of the ground.

"And while Brentford are correct in stating that discussions were held with both them and Hartlepool, at no time were either club told that they had to agree on an allocation.

"Both clubs declined the offer of 4,200 tickets and the subsequent offer of 3,700 and both decided to take the 3,200 allocation on a sale or return basis. It was only after this point that we started to sell tickets to home supporters.

"Had either club requested the 4,200 allocation then we could have held back sales in the blocks concerned until the outcome of the replay was known, but this was not the case."

Saints chairman Rupert Lowe added: "We consulted with both Brentford and Hartlepool before their fourth-round replay and we've given them the allocation they requested.

''Tickets have already been bought for the potential zone to move supporters to, so we can provide no more tickets.

''It's regrettable that more of them cannot come but these things need forward planning. If they're not planned properly, then mishaps can happen.''