WANDERERS are on course to eclipse their biggest crowd of the season in Saturday’s showdown clash with Blackpool.

More than 20,000 tickets have already been sold, prompting optimistic talk of a sell-out as Dougie Freedman’s side look for three points that would almost certainly guarantee a play-off spot.

Blackpool are expected to bring their full quota of 3,200 fans after increasing their allocation, making for a party atmosphere nearly 60 years to the day since their famous FA Cup final victory over Wanderers in 1953.

The 20,000 mark has only been passed twice at home this season, against Leeds United back in October and in the Boxing Day clash with Sheffield Wednesday.

Freedman, looking for a ninth successive home victory on the spin, is anticipating an atmosphere to match the occasion.

“The fans are getting confidence in the team and the team is getting confidence in the fans,” he said.

“It’s all coming together as one now. And it’s going to be a great atmosphere, I’m told, because I haven’t experienced one of those final days of the season yet, with relegation or staying up, things like that. I’m looking forward to experiencing what that is like.”

Freedman is keen for his players to acknowledge the crowd after the final whistle with a lap of honour but it is not certain at this point whether that will be saved for any potential home leg of the play-offs.

The club were erring on the positive side yesterday, and were expecting to save the celebrations until the play-off semi, which is likely to be played on Thursday or Friday, depending on the Blackpool result.

Should the worst happen, however, or there be a change of plan, the necessary measures have been taken to allow the players to thank the supporters.

The manager is focusing purely on keeping with the same routine that has helped the club to its best run of home form in 20 years.

“We have got to make sure we do the exact same thing that we have been doing.

“We train, we prepare, give them ideas on how to beat Blackpool and then we sit back and watch a group that have come from pretty much nowhere to the play-offs. I trust them, we all trust them at home, and you just hope in this particular case that they will get the result they need.”

Blackpool made sure they went into the final day of the campaign safe by beating Derby last week, but Freedman believes that makes them dangerous customers heading into a game with only local pride at stake.

“They are the ones you’ve got to be careful of,” he said. “They are playing with a carefree attitude. They have had a little drop in the league and maybe that was a concern three or four games ago but they are safe now.

“They are playing with an attitude where they have got nothing to lose so we have got to be professional, make our blocks and attack when we can. That way one of the top players like Chris Eagles can come to the party.”