Proud Jones hails Town's 'amazing' fans as record numbers head to Newcastle

At the time of writing, Town had sold 7,400 tickets for the clash, who will form part of the biggest-ever away following at the Premier League club’s famous ground.

Jones said: “It’s amazing that we’re taking that amount of fans and I think it’s a record for an away attendance there, so I’m very proud of our football club.

"I’m always proud of our football club, but that is going to be some attendance.

"St James' Park is a wonderful, wonderful atmosphere and Newcastle has always got great football fans.

"They’re very vocal, so the atmosphere will be wonderful and it’s the good thing about Newcastle, they always turn out regardless of what competition it is, or where the team are, or what the troubles are.

"There’s a little bit of Luton in them in terms of great fanbase, so it’s going to be a wonderful occasion for both sets of fans.”

When asked about going up against the Premier League outfit managed by former Real Madrid and Liverpool chief Rafa Benitez, Jones added: "It’s a chance just to test ourselves, that’s what we like.

"We always say about when we go up against higher level opposition, we’ve done it against (Aston) Villa and we beat them, we should have beaten Leeds in the game after that, but we missed chances, which you can’t afford to do against higher league opposition.

"Then every time we’ve played League One sides we’ve beaten them in cup competitions, so we’re in a real good place.

"We like testing ourselves and this will be a massive test, a test that we haven’t come up against yet, in terms of in an competitive game against Premier League opposition.

"We’re not going to be fearful, but we also want to acquit ourselves very well."