Brighton and Hove Albion club officials are being inundated with passionate fans desperate to see their team’s promotion push.

The club has confirmed the sale of 22,000 tickets for the home play-off semi-final first leg against Derby County this Thursday as of 1.30pm today.

The club’s ticket office has been experiencing record call volumes while the club’s online ticketing service has continued to be busy throughout the day.

Heading into the afternoon, an Albion spokesman said call volumes are currently much lower and internet activity has slowed considerably.

However as an added precaution for season ticket holders who may have experienced delays getting through to phone lines or who have been unable to access the internet or to claim their seat for any reason the club will ring-fence their currently unclaimed seats until 7pm this evening.

However, after this time, all remaining unclaimed season ticket holder seats will be released for general sale.

The general sale for remaining match tickets will commence as planned within the next 15 minutes at 2pm.

Telephone lines will close at 7pm although online bookings can be made at any time.

All supporters are advised to check the club’s ticketing website regularly as more tickets may be made available at different times throughout the next 48 hours or until such time as the club is sold out.

Fans are also being reminded that no play-off tickets will be sold over the counter at the stadium and any ticketing queries can only be dealt with by telephone.

The club is also strongly advising fans to take advantage of the print at home service to avoid delays collecting play-off tickets but fans wishing to collect tickets purchased on Monday are advised to visit the stadium after noon tomorrow.

Meanwhile, platinum and gold members whose tickets have not yet been processed are advised their tickets will be reserved and they can either call the ticket office to make payment – or the club will be in contact with them in due course.