FA Cup tickets sold at Crabble on Boxing Day will be allocated to two per person to avoid people illegally selling them on.

This comes after furious fans criticised the process for selling tickets for Dover Athletic’s third round game against Premiership side Crystal Palace on January 4.

Scores of supporters walked away empty-handed on Saturday when the club released FA Cup tickets on general sale at the Centre Spot clubhouse. Around 1,000 tickets were up for grabs with an allocation of four per person.

Some people got there from 2am and the crowds reached between 3-4,000, according to the chairman.

Chairman Jim Parmenter told the Mercury the club aimed to reduce tickets to two per person when they go on sale on Boxing Day at midday, before the game against Welling. There will be 1,200 available.

He said: “I am pretty sure that is going to happen to avoid people buying to sell on for inflated prices.

“We sold four per person before because we have a lot of families come to games.”

Mr Parmenter added: “Its the first time in the club’s history that the stadium will reach its full capacity.

“We are doing our best with the resources we have to make sure fans get their tickets.”

Fans have feared the re-sale of tickets online could force them “into the wrong hands.” And some have reported seeing them for £100 a pop online.

Responding to criticism that under 18s were denied tickets on Saturday, Mr Parmenter said: “The difficulty is we have parents who have the four ticket allocation and they send their children to get more.

“We did manage to ensure that some under 18s were able to get tickets.”

A statement released by the club today confirmed that under 16s will not be sold tickets on Boxing Day and that when tickets sell out signs will be displayed.

It said: "We recommend that fans do not wait outside the ground very early, as gates will not open before 12 noon. We have a significant number of tickets still available, which will spread even further now that the allocation has been limited to two per person."