Saints have vowed to weed out any rogue elements in the vote for their new home strip following suspicions that Pompey fans are trying to sabotage the poll.

The Monaco-style shirt, loudly booed at The Dell on Saturday, has received a sudden surge of support through the internet.

The club suspect that Portsmouth supporters have been logging on in their hundreds trying to land their rivals with their least favourite kit.

It is still well behind in the pecking order but, if it gains too much ground, the vote could end up following the same pattern as the American presidential election with ballots being carefully scrutinised to ensure there is no foul play.

Retail development executive James McLaughlin said: "We will be checking carefully through all the votes and will filter out any which arouse our suspicions or those who have voted dozens of times.

"Although we have said people can vote more than once, we do not expect them to be sending too many entries.

"It did not help that on Sky's Soccer AM programme Helen Chamberlain gave Pompey fans the idea to sabotage the vote and we have since had an apology from them.

"There has been a significant rise in support for the Monaco shirt and more than we would have expected. But it is not enough to have any effect on the outcome.

"The three striped shirts are still well out in front although the quarters is gaining in popularity as fans think about the historical aspect to it linking in with a return to the club's roots.

"The good thing is that it has given fans something to think about and that they are using their imagination to realise that something different is not necessarily bad.

"I think stripes will probably win in the end but it will be interesting. and it is going to be a nightmare task adding up all the votes."

Saints have been overwhelmed by the vast volume of response.

So far they have already received a staggering 10,000 replies with half of those coming on the internet at www.saintsfc.co.uk

There have been more than 2,000 from the forms printed in the Echo and the Pink and the rest have come on the special voting cards which have had to be re-printed.Voting finishes this Saturday.

This year's replica kit has now been included in the club's New Year Sale at The Dell and WestQuay. They are knocking 25 per cent of all home and away shirts, shorts and socks plus the red goalkeeper's top until January 13 when it will revert to full price.