Sheffield Wednesday open up extra seats as Portsmouth showdown heads towards sky-high attendance

Somewhere in the region of 33,500 spectators are set to take their seat at Hillsborough as they take on Portsmouth knowing a win will secure the Owls fourth place and a coveted second leg home tie in the playoff shake-up.

That would make for the biggest Hillsborough attendance since the last day of the 2016/17 Championship season nearly five years back when 33,681 fans watched the Owls get edged out by Fulham before setting sail on their playoff adventure.

Should the total number of fans this weekend topple that figure, the previous highest attendance will be the famous League Cup win over Arsenal in October 2015, which was watched by 35,065 spectators.

It comes after the club announced on Wednesday afternoon that it would be opening the lower section of the Leppings Lane end to Wednesday supporters after tickets all but sold out earlier in the week.

A statement read in part: “The Owls are pleased to confirm that we are able to open the West Lower Tier for home supporters for Saturday’s season finale against Portsmouth (12:30pm).

“As a result, 1,000 extra seats are now on general sale and once sold there will be no additional tickets.

“With an expected attendance of over 33,500 inside Hillsborough we look forward to a bumper crowd and cracking atmosphere this weekend!”