FA defend extra ticket allocation for Poland fans

Security is the main reason that the Football Association gave Polish fans 18,000 tickets for tomorrow's World Cup qualifier at Wembley, head of communications Scott Field has said.

It was confirmed yesterday that Polish fans would make up a large part of the crowd at Wembley and Field insists that it is much safer as they will not sit among the home supporters.

"From the very start the interest from Polish fans was absolutely vast," Field told talkSPORT.

"We had great demand for tickets from them and what we needed to ensure with our strategy was that Polish fans didn't have the opportunity to buy in the home ends.

"It was something we had to guard against and so therefore it was decided that, with a slightly larger allocation, we would be able to accommodate them in one area and stop away fans buying in the home ends."

England virtually have to win the match to guarantee a place in Brazil next year, with second-placed Ukraine facing minnows San Marino in their final qualifier.