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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Rory Cassidy

Tartan Army scramble to snap up tickets for Ukraine clash as greedy touts cash in on World Cup qualifier

The Tartan Army yesterday scrambled to snap up tickets for Scotland's crunch clash with Ukraine tonight - as greedy touts cashed in on the match.

Desperate fans took to Twitter in a bid to buy spare tickets after being unsuccessful in the public sales.

And touts flogged briefs on resale websites for as much as £500 - more than 16 times the £30 face value.

Around 1,000 supporters were lucky enough to get tickets last week after an extra batch was put on sale by the Scottish Football Association.

The additional tickets sold out in under 30 minutes, ensuring the match at Hampden is a sell-out.

But other fans have shelled out hundreds of pounds on briefs from ticket tout sites to ensure they got a seat at the 52,000 capacity stadium.

Steve Clarke's men face the war-torn country's national side tonight in a bid to set up a date with destiny.

A win against Ukraine would secure a play-off final tie with Wales next Sunday - and leave us just 90 minutes away from a place at the World Cup.

A Scotland fan waves a flag during the France '98 World Cup. (Reuters)

Victory over Wales would see Scotland reaching our first World Cup since France '98, battling it out in Qatar in a group with England, Iran and USA.

But first Scotland captain Andy Robertson and his squad must see off Ukraine, ranked 27th best country in the world, 12 places ahead of Scotland.

The match was rearranged from March due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with the rescheduled date meaning some fans are now unable to attend.

Liam Kerr, of Ayr, rearranged his shift at work so he could try and get tickets in last week's additional sale, but the huge demand saw the 25-year-old missing out on a prized brief.

He said: "I follow Ayr United home and away every year but the last five years or so have developed a love for Scotland and even ended up attending the Euro 2020 Qualifying campaign as well as the Group stage matches.

"I was really eager to make the playoffs and never managed to get a ticket the first time round when the match was scheduled for March.

"When I saw there were more tickets getting put on sale I was determined to get one and tried my best to secure a ticket - I even took a late start at work to give me the best chance.

"But the demand made the queue too long and I missed out.

"The support is huge now and you can see that with the sale of these tickets.

"They were due to go on sale at 10am and I was online and ready for 9.30am but I didn’t even get into the site till 10.30am and was still unsuccessful.

"I'm gutted I've missed out on a ticket and won't be there but I’ll be watching at home, cheering on the boys and hoping they do the business."

Greedy touts were still trying to cash in on the match yesterday.

Ticket tout site Livefootballtickets.com had 45 tickets for the match on sale, the cheapest at £248.50 and the most expensive at £500.

Ticketkosta had 13 briefs, priced from £240 to £340, and Ticket4football had 21, ranging from £75 to £135.

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