Colchester United fans face disappointment after it was revealed there will be little Friday night action to watch in the coming season.

The amended fixture list, now completed, shows Layer Road will stage just two Friday games in 1999-2000 - compared to eight last season.

Jon Burns, vice chairman of Colchester United Supporters' Association, said: "It's going to disappoint a lot of people. I'd say the majority of fans like it better on Fridays.

"Historically Friday has always been a popular one and it always used to put a few hundred or even a thousand on the gate. I don't think it's as beneficial as it used to be, and the plus point about Saturdays is it's easier for long distance supporters."

The home games switched to Fridays are against Wrexham and Luton, which will now be played on October 1 and December 17 respectively.

Other fixtures at Layer Road changed are those involving Cardiff and Wycombe, which have both been put back 24 hours to Wednesdays to avoid clashes with Ipswich Town matches.

And the September 4 clash with Wigan will kick off at 1pm as England's Euro 2000 qualifier with Luxembourg begins at 3pm.

Two away games have been moved to Fridays, those at Cambridge (now October 15) and Cardiff (March 17), the latter to prevent a clash with a Wales rugby match.

The U's commercial manager Brian Wheeler admitted he was "disappointed" that more games were not on a Friday but explained that most clubs had turned down the U's request to switch fixtures.

He added the changes that were made were mostly police enforced.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.