SOCCER-mad John Baldwin flew thousands of miles to be at his daughter's wedding, but the only match on his mind is tomorrow's FA Cup final.

When daughter Sally-Anne first told her Man United-supporting father living in Australia that she was planning on getting married in May of this year, his first reaction was to make sure her day didn't clash with the cup final.

Newportonian Mr Baldwin emigrated to Australia nearly 17 years ago, but he has followed the fortunes of the Red Devils closely.

While living in Newport the then Llanwern steelworker would take a minibus full of people from Gwent on a 350-mile round trip to Man United's home games, and followed their fortunes abroad whenever they had a run in the European Cup.

To his relief, Sally-Anne's wedding at St John's Church in Maindee is a week after the big match.

Now he is desperate to get his hands on four cup final tickets for himself, his wife, Ty, and sons Royston and John, ahead of tomorrow's big showdown at the Millennium Stadium with Arsenal.

He has taken to driving around with a sign in his car urging anyone to ring him if they have any spares

The 59-year-old said: "When my daughter told me she was thinking of getting married I said I would be over for the cup final. I told her to make sure it was the week after because we would be playing at home the week before, and I would be going to that! If the dates had clashed I would have gone to the football and been late for the wedding."

If anyone has spare tickets ring 01291 673431 or 00614 07601845.