Colchester United chief executive Marie Partner has hit back at allegations that the club is trying to cash in on the forthcoming cup games with Coventry City and Southend United.

There has especially been unrest among the U's student following who are not being given their usual concession on the popular Barside stand for the cup encounters.

There are, however, student concessions in stands three and four, and Partner said: "I had to fight hard for that."

In the FA Cup, both sides have to agree on ticket prices and whether or not to allow concessions because the proceeds from the gate are shared.

Coventry did not allow student concessions in the game played at Highfield Road on January 24, but Partner did not see that as satisfactory for the U's faithful.

She said: "Coventry did not want us to give any concessions, but I battled against that.

"We don't have to offer student concessions at all, but we have a large university in the town and we value the support we get from there.

"We do the same with the armed forces and we feel we give something back to our fans."

Matthew Renton, his brother Dan and friends Ryan Morrison, Tim Bastyan and James McRoberts were among those who voiced their discontent.

Matthew is an 18-year-old student at Kent University who gets back to Colchester to see the U's whenever he can.

However, once the facts had been explained to him he said: "It did seem like the club were just trying to get more money out of the fans, but now the situation has been clarified, I'm a lot happier."

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Published Thursday January 29, 2004

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