COLCHESTER star Wayne Brown today advised former club Ipswich: “Don't be fooled by our win over Stoke!”Brown & Co sent the in-form Potters packing 3-0 at Layer Road five days ago but believes the Midlands outfit will find Portman Road more to their liking in around 48 hours' time.

By Mel Henderson

COLCHESTER star Wayne Brown today advised former club Ipswich: “Don't be fooled by our win over Stoke!”

Brown & Co sent the in-form Potters packing 3-0 at Layer Road five days ago but believes the Midlands outfit will find Portman Road more to their liking in around 48 hours' time.

Brown, 29, said: “We knew from day one this season that we had to make our ground a fortress if we were going to have any chance of staying in the Championship and that's exactly what we have done with nine straight wins.

“Visiting clubs don't always fancy it, whereas teams turning up at Ipswich and seeing the facilities - it's a proper football stadium - probably can't wait to get out there and play.”

Stoke arrived at Colchester having taken 19 points from seven games and without conceding a goal in 656 minutes.

But that record was quickly shattered as Jamie Cureton netted in just 75 seconds and struck again 15 minutes later to double his side's advantage.

Brown, who made 50 first team appearances for Town before joining Watford four years ago, moved to Colchester early in 2004.

He added: “We like to get off to a good start and try to get on top of teams by putting them under early pressure.

“The early goal was nice. It put them on the back foot and to get another one really settled us down and seemed to knock the stuffing out of them.

“In fairness to Stoke, however, they had the ball in the net at 1-0 and it should have stood rather than being chalked off for offside.

“We had the rub of the green on that occasion. It could have been completely different had that counted.

“They had a few chances in the first half but although they probably had seven or eight shots only one of them was actually on target.

“They were flying when they came to us and when you're going that well you want to keep it going. But the backlash we were expecting never really materialised.

“They came at us for maybe ten minutes or so in the second half but after that they didn't offer a great deal of threat. I was a bit disappointed in them because I was expecting more.”

But despite the scoreline - Aussie ace Richard Garcia netted goal number three - Brown believes Stoke will pose more of a threat on Saturday.

He said: “They are strong up front. Ipswich will know Ricardo Fuller from his loan spell there last season and Mamady Sidibe is a real handful in the air.

“They have also added a bit of quality here and there with Premiership loan signings and their results show what they are capable of.

“Portman Road is the sort of ground they are used to, whereas Layer Road might have been a bit of a shock to their system.”

Seventh-placed Stoke will be forced to make at least one change at Ipswich as experienced former Chelsea and Leeds central defender Michael Duberry will be serving a one-game suspension.