TICKETLESS Gillingham supporters have been jamming Arsenal's switchboard in a desperate search for tickets to see Saturday's FA Cup, fifth round, tie against the favourites.

The Highbury ticket office is now regarded as the best bet by Gillingham fans wanting to see the tie, though the Gunners insist the match is a 38,500 sell-out. "We were inundated with calls from Gillingham supporters but regret that we were unable to help," said a spokesman.

However, Arsenal are unsure just how many of their season ticket holders will take up their option of a ticket. In the fourth round, against Liverpool, admission for Arsenal season ticket holders was included in the price of their ticket.

On Saturday, they have been asked to tear out voucher 35 at the turnstile with the price of admission to be added to the cost of next season's ticket. Arsenal admit they are unsure just how many of their season ticket holders will turn up until they go through the turnstiles, increasing the prospect of rows of empty seats at Highbury on Saturday - just as there were when Middlesbrough beat Manchester United in the last round.

The sight of a less than full Highbury would compound the frustration of hundreds of Gillingham supporters, many of them season ticket holders, who have been unable to lay their hands on the hottest ticket in town.

With feelings running high among so many ticketless fans, club chairman Paul Scally sought to placate them by promising to investigate the possibility of beaming the tie back to Priestfield on a big screen.

"I've got people looking into the possibility," said Mr Scally who will probably find the cost prohibitive. However, satellite company Setanta will make sure that exiled Gillingham supporters living in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean will be able to see the match.

The tie is being beamed to Pasadena, Sacremento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Monica, Denver, Washington, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Oakland, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Portland, Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Houston, Seattle and throughout New York from Manhattan to the Bronx. In Canada, it will be available in Ottawa and Montreal and in the Caribbean in Barbados and also Bermuda.

The Gillingham Independent Supporters' Club have filled two coaches for the trip to Highbury and are ready to run a third. Local train operator Connex are running additional trains to London on Saturday with an extra four on the Strood to Victoria route. Because of engineering works Connex are laying on buses from Gillingham Railway Station calling at Chatham and Rochester en-route.