Colchester chairman Robbie Cowling has warned Norwich supporters will be ejected from the ground if they are sat in home areas at Saturday's League One showdown.

Colchester chairman Robbie Cowling has warned Norwich supporters will be ejected from the ground if they are sat in home areas at Saturday's League One showdown.

Cowling refused to increase the Canaries initial 1,900 away allocation but United's chairman admitted Colchester officials are well aware Norwich fans have since purchased seats in home sections of the compact Weston Homes Community stadium.

City's visit is now a 10,000 sell out ahead of the clubs' first meeting since Norwich's humiliating opening day league defeat at Carrow Road and the acrimonious switch of former Us' manager Paul Lambert.

'We have discovered that a number of tickets in home areas were sold to Norwich fans,' said Cowling. 'We have since got in touch with them, cancelled those tickets, given them their money back and then resold the tickets to genuine home supporters.

'If any Norwich fans are still to be found in the home sections on the day then they will have to be removed from the stadium because we can't have that. Why should we have given them extra seats? We have given them a whole stand and we will fill the rest with our own fans.'

Cowling angered Norwich supporters when he initially stated he would rather see empty seats than increase City's away allocation after the clubs had failed to thrash out a compensation package for Lambert following protracted talks.

United's chairman has since urged the Football League authorities to deduct points from their East Anglian rivals when the case is finally heard by a league tribunal.

Meanwhile, United boss Aidy Boothroyd hinted he could be ready to unleash former Canary striker Ian Henderson on his old club this weekend.

The 24-year-old one time City academy youngster is desperate to rebuild his career after a spell at Turkish club Ankaragucu.

Boothroyd believes Henderson can play a major part in Colchester's League One play-off push over the second half of the season.

'I'm hoping that we can give him the springboard to kick on,' he said. 'He lost his way a little bit and went to play in Turkey which can happen very often with British players going over to foreign climes, speaking a different language with different rules.

'He's a player who can play in a number of positions - he can play up front, out wide or in central positions. He's tenacious and a horrible little player to play against because he just never stops running but technically, he's also a very good footballer.'

Boothroyd admits United's weekend league postponement against Yeovil due to the harsh weather conditions is far from ideal preparation for City's visit. Colchester's last outing was a humiliating 7-0 FA Cup defeat at Preston.

'We have had seven goals for us against Norwich and seven against us in the defeat at Preston,' he said. 'At the moment we are a great Trivial Pursuit question, but I want to add on the, 'which team got promoted,' to the start of that question and, if people get that answer, they deserve their cheese.

'When you have got a team that is growing and building, you have to go through some really bad experiences. Although people can say the right things I don't care about thumping tables or banging chests, I will see who has got the gumption required in the next game we play. I am expecting someone to get a real backlash.'

Colchester officials are confident Saturday's game will go ahead but have appealed for volunteers to help clear snow off the pitch.

Supporters are asked to report to reception at the club's Weston Homes Community Stadium - with shovels and wheelbarrows if possible - over the next few days to assist head groundsman David Blacknall and his team.