High Peak Council has imposed a capacity of 1,303 and every one of the tickets was snapped up within hours, the vast majority going to local fans. With the Hillmen leading 2-0 after the first leg in St Austell, it’s going to take a major upset to prevent them returning to Wembley.
Club chairman Dave Atkinson, his directors and helpers have been busy all week, preparing the ground for the bumper crowd. He said: “Our usual facilities won’t be able to cope so we’ll have a burger van and portable toilets at the top end.
“The Co-op are raffling a hamper and letting us have the proceeds which is very good of them. But they’ll have to sell the tickets outside the ground because there won’t be room inside.
“I hope the people who travel up from St Austell enjoy themselves. They were very friendly to us at their place and I couldn’t fault the way they treated us.
“It’ll be great to see the ground full and we’ll make some money, but we’re spending money too. It cost us £2,000 last week to put the team up in a hotel in Newquay. That’s a big chunk of the prize money we’ve received since the first round proper when we entered the competition.”
If Glossop clinch victory over their Cornish opponents they will receive £6,000, and then at least £17,000 from the final on Saturday, May 9, or £25,000 if they were to win. Their opponents would be Highworth Town or more likely North Shields who hold a 1-0 lead from the first leg.
With their two-goal advantage, the Hillmen are hot favourites to get past St Austell but Atkinson insists he is not getting carried away.
He explained: “Of course I’m excited but I’m keeping my feet on the ground. We’ve got to be sensible and avoid doing something that might bite us on the backside. Clubs have come back from 2-0 down before and it’ll happen again. I just hope it doesn’t happen against us this Saturday.
“But we’re not focused on the Vase alone. The way things are going at the moment we’re chasing a treble.”
Glossop, who are also through to the semi-finals of the NWCL’s Men United Cup, narrowed the gap on Runcorn Linnets on Tuesday when they won 5-1 at AFC Blackpool. That left them eight points behind the league leaders but with five games in hand.
The Hillmen, who are on the crest of an unbelievable wave, have won their last nine league games in a run stretching back to the end of November, and 13 out of their last 14.
They have lost only once in the league since September 6 when their conquerors were Runcorn Linnets.