Arsenal fan Paul Evans has fired a salvo at railway operators after he missed out on train tickets to see his favourite team in action.

Mr Evans said he may be stuck in Oxford despite having four tickets to see his favourite team at the FA Cup final in Cardiff tomorrow.

The financial controller, from Drayton, near Abingdon, left it too late to book tickets on special trains from Paddington, through Didcot to the Cardiff Millennium Stadium for the big match.

Now only one train still has vacant seats, but Mr Evans says he was told it was too late for him too book an advance ticket.

Mr Evans, 37, has supported Arsenal all his life and wants to travel to the game with his father and two friends.

He said: "All the trains are fully booked. I can't believe they think they can accommodate 30,000 fans with so few trains.

"You would have thought they would provide better transport for a game of this size."

He added: "We may have to go by car, but I wanted to take the train. This kind of event is a big day out and you don't want to be driving long journeys."

Great Western has doubled the number of trains between Paddington and Cardiff to ten before and ten after the match in partnership with the FA.

Elaine Wilde, spokesman for Great Western, said the company and the FA had for months urged fans, through major advertising campaigns, to book in advance.

She said: "We anticipate carrying 5,000 people on the day. We have pulled every resource that we can and have cancelled trains in other areas to make sure the match is covered.

"The trains have been booked up since April and were well advertised."