Fans queuing for the 500 extra tickets for the Cliftonville v Celtic match on Wednesday night

HUNDREDS of football fans queued on Tuesday morning to snap up the 500 tickets which went on sale for the Cliftonville versus Celtic match.

But many went home disappointed as the demand outstripped the number of available tickets for the Champions League second round qualifier.

The tickets became available after they were returned by Celtic who said they could not sell them to their own fans.

Hundreds of hopeful fans queued for hours on Tuesday, in the hope of getting one of the tickets returned by Celtic for Wednesday’s night’s match.

Some fans queued from 1 am in the morning outside Sean Graham’s bookmakers in King Street, Belfast city centre.

Stewards from Cliftonville FC marshalled the queue and as the doors opened at 10:00 BST, they began letting 10 fans in at a time.

The match kicks off at 7.45pm on Wednesday at the Solitude ground in north Belfast.

The Celtic are expected to arrive in Northern Ireland on Tuesday.