COVENTRY City supremo Bryan Richardson is urging the Sky Blue fans to compete with Burnley's travelling support to avoid an FA Cup shock at Highfield Road on Saturday.

Richardson is aware of the impact the near 5,000 Clarets fans made in Burnley's stunning third-round success at Derby County.

And although Coventry have limited visiting fans to just 4,000 tickets, which have all been sold, Richardson knows Burnley will be backed by vociferous support which could help tip the tie the underdogs' way.

"It's very important that we get our fans right behind the team because apparently their fans made a lot of noise at Derby. There weren't that many Derby fans and that made a difference," said the City chairman.

"Recently we had the Villa game here and no doubt the passion and noise from our supporters that night gave us a huge boost for the team.

"If we can do that again in the fourth round on January 8 it will make a big difference.

"We don't want 4,000 Lancastrians coming here and dwarfing our support levels so it's very important they get right behind the team once again."

Burnley were disappointed not to be allocated further tickets but despite representations to the that effect, Coventry stuck to their guns on the grounds of segregation.

"They will have just about 4,000 seats and you would expect them to sell out.

"The idea of going away to a Premier League club is an attractive proposition for somebody in the lower divisions and no doubt that will be the case here," added Richardson, who is anxious to make Premiership status count and avoid following Derby out of the competition. "What we've got to do is not take it for granted. We've got to focus on it and if we can get maximum support I don't believe that we will have a day that won't be, hopefully, successful," he said.

Uppermost in Burnley's minds, however, was today's trip to Meadow Lane to take on Notts County.

The Clarets were expected to have a fully fit squad to choose from with only suspended captain Gordon Armstrong missing because of a one-match ban.

Steve Davis was likely to take the arm-band again as fifth-placed Burnley looked to start the New Year with an upturn in their away fortunes after losing 4-2 at Bury just over a week ago.

Meanwhile, Burnley's Division Two rivals Gillingham have signed their former striker Iffy Onuora on loan from Swindon with a view to a permanent move.

He replaces striker Robert Taylor, who left for Manchester City in a £1.5million deal five weeks ago. Onuora's team-mate Ty Gooden has also signed for the Kent club.

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