RED-FACED Saints have apologised to furious fans who were caught up in Grand Final ticket mayhem on Tuesday, and insisted it was not the club's fault. Tickets were scheduled to go on general sale from 4pm, but when hundreds of supporters arrived, many of whom had finished work early or travelled from outlying areas, only top-of-the-range £25 ones were available. Further supplies of the more popular prices were obtained later, but not before many confused supporters had returned home empty-handed.

A Saints' spokesman said: 'We deeply regret the inconvenience, but we were put under pressure by Super League officials to sell tickets earlier than the times advertised. We complied with this, but because of a heavy demand for lower-priced tickets we ran out of these for a short period, but Saints worked hard to obtain an extra allocation and these went on sale on Wednesday morning."

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