Aidy Boothroyd won't be making any special plans for the man described as 'he most technically gifted player in the division.' City midfielder Wes Hoolahan's trail of destruction has left opposition managers singing his praises.

Aidy Boothroyd won't be making an special plans for the man described as "the most technically gifted player in the division."

City midfielder Wes Hoolahan's trail of destruction has left opposition managers singing his praises. It was Huddersfield boss Lee Clark who accorded him that compliment, while Millwall's Kenny Jackett said he was the outstanding player in League One. Most attempts at crowding the midfielder out have failed, but Colchester boss Boothroyd won't change his plans for one man.

"I think every team has their leaders and I think every team has their artists and every team has their soldiers and you have to look at that as a team and try and get the best out of that as a team," he said.

"We won't be making any special measures for anyone - I think if you start to do that you start to take away what you want to do and what your intentions are.

"Yes, we will respect Norwich. They are second for a reason, and we are six points off them with two games in hand for a reason - because we are both two teams that are going to have a real good go at each other on Saturday."

If City win they go nine points ahead of fourth-placed Colchester. Boothroyd sees it different way.

"If they don't win it and we win it they are thinking, 'they're coming after us' - and they'd be right," he said.

While Colchester boast a 7-1 win over City this season, their last performance was a 7-0 FA Cup defeat at Preston a fortnight ago.

"I think that's what football does and that's why it is very important when managers get freak results like 7-1 and 7-0 that you don't get too excited when you win and you don't get too down when you get beat - although I was very irritated after Preston, I have to say, and there are always reasons," he said.

"I asked the players, 'what are the excuses, let's get them out of the way'. Was it the fact that we had two brilliant results (against Southend and Southampton), the fact that we are flying along and probably over-achieving; the fact we are going so well in the league was there a bit of over-confidence? Was it the travelling, or was it just because we didn't turn up on the day, because I changed the team, what was it? So we got to the bottom of it and we take the lesson out of it."