Police believe football match banner sparked surge in calls
The banner, running alongside one touchline, was seen by millions of armchair football fans who tuned in to watch Manchester United play Zalaegerszeg on Wednesday.
The sign which read "MISSING! Holly & Jessica Call 0500 700 700" prompted a floods of calls to police and the National Missing Persons helpline.
Officers at the hunt's nerve centre in Cambridgeshire experienced an increase in calls while the game was on last night they believe because of the banner.
A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Police said: "We are very grateful for any support which will help us find Holly and Jessica.
"There was an increase in calls last night, we think down to that banner, our call centre received more calls than usual. It seems to have spurred people on to call us.
"These calls will be looked at by officers along with all the others coming in to the centre."
And the charity which helped organise it received 136 calls between 7.30pm and 10pm last night while the game was screened on BBC1.
The BBC said 5.8 million viewers watched the match.
Sophie Woodforde, spokeswoman for the charity, said: "We were surprised and pleased with the amount of calls, it was more than we expected. We are used to getting lots of calls on direct appeals.
"But this was just a banner at a football match. It just shows the interest and awareness and desire of the public to help, even from people sitting down watching a football match and being moved to ring us."
The large red sign was in frequent view as Manchester United the missing 10-year-olds' favourite team lost 1-0 against Zalaegerszegi in Budapest, Hungary.
All the information taken in the calls to the charity was faxed to the police inquiry team in Cambridgeshire.
The force has now received 14,000 calls from the public on the hunt for the girls.
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