Police will beef up their presence in Colchester and Clacton to clamp down on trouble-makers during Saturday's big soccer clash between England and Germany.

Extra officers will be on duty during and after the Euro 2000 match, which kicks off at 7.45pm, to keep an eye on drinkers watching the game in pubs and bars.

Inspector Paul Fieldsend, in charge of Colchester town centre police, said: "We have arranged for extra staff to be on duty during this time. This is just a contingency plan.

"For Euro 96, there were some problems and we would look silly if there was trouble and we had not made plans for Euro 2000."

Police and publicans will keep in close touch on Saturday night, as at other times, through the Pub-link scheme which links them over a two-way radio network.

An Essex Police spokesman said there was no overall county plan to prevent hooliganism but each division was making its own arrangements.

England need to beat their old rivals to stand any chance of progressing to the quarter finals.

At Clacton, acting inspector Kevan Griggs, said extra officers would be on duty in the town.

"We shall have extra police on duty. There are no specific problems expected, it is for general crowd behaviour," he added.

He said that more police had been drafted in for England's last few major games and there had been no major difficulties.

"We have been able to deal with any problems that have come up. We really don't know what to expect on Saturday. When they become knock-out games you can expect trouble."

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