CHRIS WISE Darren Huckerby will be aiming to maintain a hot scoring streak against Ipswich Town in tomorrow's big game.

CHRIS WISE

Darren Huckerby will be aiming to maintain a hot scoring streak against Ipswich Town in tomorrow's big game.

The Norwich City front-man marked his first appearance in an East Anglian derby by netting the goal that completed a 3-1 home victory during the closing stages of the 2003-4 promotion campaign.

And he also played a starring role in the previous encounter between the two teams at Portman Road in September when he came off the bench to net a fine individual effort as the Canaries emerged from a dismal sequence of results to record a well deserved 1-0 victory.

Two games, two goals, two wins. That's how Huckerby v Ipswich reads so far and the player himself would dearly love to write a new chapter in the success story at the weekend.

"It's a case of so far so good as far as I am concerned - but I won't be giving too much thought to what has gone before," he said.

"It's a question of focusing on Sunday's game - and it's a massive one for us, that's for sure.

"I always enjoy these sort of games. I love playing against the enemy and hopefully we will come away with all three points.

"We have got a full quota of players now. There are three new signings on board and Youssef Safri is back from Africa, which is a huge bonus for us. So it's up to us to go out and produce the goods. We have had a few disappointing results recently and now we have got to get our act together."

As a predominantly left-sided player, Huckerby is likely to find himself pitting his wits against City's public enemy No. 1 Fabian Wilnis tomorrow.

After the previous meeting between the sides at Carrow Road the Dutchman claimed the Canaries would need a whole new team to survive in the top flight - and he revealed yesterday that he had received threatening hate-mail from Norfolk as a result of his outburst.

Huckerby is well aware of the background to that one - but clearly didn't want to make a big issue of it before what is sure to be another highly-charged derby.

"I haven't really thought about it to be honest," he said. "He has got his own opinions, that's up to him. He'd probably be better off worrying about his place in the Ipswich team to be honest."

A flying winger from the past is also looking forward to tomorrow's derby. Darren Eadie will be part of the Sky commentary team at Carrow Road and admits it will be difficult to hide his emotions once the game gets under way.

"I'll try and be fair to both teams but I think it's fair to say I might be a little bit biased," he said. "I am Norwich through and through and I can't help myself sometimes! I want Norwich to win on Sunday and I won't be able to hide the fact."

As for a prediction, Eadie added, perhaps predictably: "I'm going for a home win, 2-0 or 3-0, something like that. I think the signings have been superb, especially Robbie Earnshaw. He's the sort of player I would sign if I was a manager and I'm sure he will do very well for Norwich.

"He'll bring an edge to the team that is probably lacking at the moment and it wouldn't surprise he at all if he announced his arrival with a goal or two."