“Sunday’s eventful East Anglian derby was full of the furore and controversy that makes these types of matches so special.”
What was so strange was that, when we trailed 0-2 at half time, I didn’t fill up with a horrible sense of foreboding inevitability.
I could see from the first half showing that the new manager had restored the belief in the players which had been sorely missed.
Despite the endearing qualities of a certain Peter Grant, could you have seen his Norwich side come back from a two-goal deficit against a team in the play-off positions?
Once we conceded, his facial expressions weren’t exactly inspiring his troops, and neither was the Scottish spirit.
It works for Sir Alex, but whatever he exudes to his players, old PG hasn’t quite figured out yet.
One match, especially when it is a derby, doesn’t change the course of our season. We are still in dire need of points but from almost every angle I looked at it, we were better than Ipswich on Sunday.
Brellier was superb in the tackle against Garvan and Legwinski, with the former Hearts man particularly cute on the ball.
Russell was relentless and extremely efficient in his passing, while the back four worked well together. I would say Taylor was at fault for the first goal, but obviously made amends with his deflected equaliser.
Neil Alexander was the man of the match in my opinion, making several superb stops to repel a galvanised City side, but Marshall also showed real class to deny Haynes late in the second half.
I could list several others who showed brilliant attitude on Sunday, but none more so than Jamie Cureton. If I was Roeder, I would have seriously considered taking him off before he scored, due to his woeful lack of form in front of goal.
According to Cureton, when he limped up to the Norwich manager complaining of cramp, Roeder said: “Well, score a goal and you can come off.”
After he bagged his goal, Cureton again mentioned the cramp, but Roeder defiantly said: “Now do it again.”
This demonstrates all I need to know about Glenn Roeder.
Reflecting on the football we played, with Otsemobor and Lappin bombing forward, Chadwick and Croft taking their man on and proven goal- scorers up front, Tuesday night’s opponents Watford will not have been so optimistic about picking up points at Carrow Road.
Alas, it wasn’t to be.
However, we all knew this squad had some very good players in it. Now it’s time to show the rest of the division, starting on Saturday.