Phil Parkinson is calling on the biggest home crowd of the season to make Valley Parade horrid for Hereford.

Parkinson has welcomed the £1 ticket offer to swell Saturday’s gate against one of their rivals in the battle for survival.

City got over 15,000 supporters for the Stockport game a year ago when they last slashed prices. And while they may struggle to reach that figure again, the current season’s best of 11,738 against Torquay in October should be beaten.

Hereford’s biggest audience this term was 7,456 at Swindon and Parkinson believes the extra numbers can have an impact.

He said: “We keep saying it’s about making Valley Parade an uncomfortable place for the visiting team and the crowd can play their part in that. This ticket idea is great and what we want to bring more supporters into the ground.

“We’ve had a good result down at Torquay and now there’s a big week coming up, starting with an important game against Hereford.

“It’s one we are relishing and when the ground gets a good atmosphere in there, it can make a difference. When the crowd are off their seats behind us, that can really lift the players.”

City have lost five times at Valley Parade but are unbeaten in seven since Rotherham’s 3-2 win three months ago. Parkinson insists they must keep working to make home advantage count.

“Performances at home have been better, although last Tuesday wasn’t the best spectacle in the world.

“But we’ve set out to make our stadium a hard place to come and play.

“In recent times, too many teams have relished playing on our patch. You hear opposition players saying that they raise their game because of the size of the place.

“Well let’s turn that round. We can only do that with the manner of our performances and make it difficult for them.”

Fans have until midday on Saturday to buy tickets from the ground. After that, normal £20 admission prices will apply.

Joint-chairman Julian Rhodes does not believe City will be making too much of a loss.

He said: “Let’s be honest, we wouldn’t be expecting a huge crowd if we weren’t doing this. Ninety per cent of the people here would have been season-ticket holders, so the money coming in wouldn’t be great anyway.

“Season-ticket holders know we do offers like this once or twice a season. But I think if you ask any of them about last season, they would probably identify that Stockport game as the most exciting they came to because of the atmosphere.

“And for what the season-tickets cost, compared to this they are still a bargain.”