CITY striker Jamie Cureton is fully expecting to leave Layer Road with ringing ears when he makes his first return to former club Colchester United this weekend.

The 32-year-old is bracing himself for a chorus of boos every time he touches the ball during the live Sky game (kick-off 5.20pm).

Cureton was a massive hit for the Us last season, scoring 24 times and claiming the Championship's golden boot, with his goals ensuring a season to remember for Geraint Williams' side.

But in the summer he went from hero to villain in the eyes of United fans when he went public with his desire to leave Layer Road, before completing a transfer to Carrow Road to rejoin the club where he began his career.

And Cureton was fully expecting the home fans to make their feelings known when he stepped onto the pitch this Saturday.

"I would expect to get booed," said Cureton, with a smile creeping across his face. "Just purely because of the fact I asked to leave. I think sometimes if you're bought and you haven't said a lot then you can get away with it. But I think because I was fairly public and was just honest I think that will go against me. I'm sure I will probably get a hell of a lot of stick."

But Cureton said his departure from Colchester should not have been taken as a personal snub, more that he wanted to set himself a new challenge.

"I had had such a good year and just felt I owed myself just one more big challenge and I felt it lay elsewhere," he said. "We had been in contract talks and things hadn't been going how I wanted and I just felt it was a decision I needed to take and I needed to get away just for my own personal benefit.

"Obviously when you say things like that the club you are leaving takes it personally, which it wasn't really. It was just a decision I felt I had to make. I enjoyed every minute I was there and still have a lot of good friends there, but you are always going to get stick because you asked to leave and even though I did really well there last year I'm sure they wont worry about that and they'll probably boo me for 90 minutes."

Playing at Layer Road will conjure happy memories for Cureton, who was on fire last season alongside Chris Iwelumo, another who left the club in the summer, this time for Charlton.

And it might just help him to rediscover a killer touch in front of goal which has deserted the hit-man in the past two weeks. Since his strike against Coventry on November 24, Cureton has found goals hard to come by, with the forward seeing a number of good chances go begging. And he hoped going back to a club where he was so successful could be the spur he needed.

"I've been a bit frustrated - just annoyed with myself, because I've missed chances in the last few games that on any other day I would be taking in my sleep," he said. "It's started to become annoying because I haven't been taking them.

"I've been pretty pleased with my all-round game, but I'm all about goals and I've just been getting a bit annoyed with myself. So it would be a nice place to get back on the goal trail."