Archive for August, 2007

I doubt if the importance of tomorrow's clash against Cardiff will have escaped the attention of Peter Grant and his side.

After all, with the Canaries now set for a two-week break from action as a result of the international fixtures, the outcome of tomorrow's game will, in all probability, have a huge bearing on how the rest of the season takes shape.

Should City finally get their act together and take all three points from Dave Jones' men, they would then be …

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On nights like these there is one little phrase that sticks in my mind.

Mick Dennis used it in his first column of the season. I'm not going to big him up too much – he was having a little pop at the time.

But it was a typically neat phrase that struck a chord – and strikes another chord tonight. Not just in this particular corner of the world, but right across the Championship.

Mick's point was that, in every likelihood, if Norwich ever wish to repeat …

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Gary Doherty and AN Other could yet have both Robbie Folwer and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink for company tomorrow as Cardiff's two, big name summer arrivals prepare to make their Championship debuts against the injury-hit Canaries.

Fowler walked away unscathed from the Bluebirds' narrow, mid-week Carling Cup victory over Leyton Orient; Hasselbaink was less fortunate – walking away with his foot heavily strapped, an injured ankle making him a doubt for the trip to Norfolk.
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Write down the likely composition of Norwich's midfield tomorrow and as things currently stand, you would probably start to struggle after one name – D Russell.

Fotheringham, no. Smith, no. Brellier, doubt. Lappin, might have to play left-back. Huckerby, doubt. Croft, possible. Chadwick, maybe. Martin, could try it…

And so the list will go on and on as the traditional spate of injuries and illnesses continues to plague Peter Grant's best-laid plans ahead of …

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I know what it's like to be a footballer. OK, not really…

But I have managed to experience a little taste of what it is that players and managers go through every week. And I have been blasted by a fan on a football phone-in.

BBC Radio Norfolk's post-match 'Canary Call' is supposed to be an opportunity for Norwich fans to vent their spleen, collectively worry and every so often celebrate the life and times of Norwich City.

If the football …

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Not for the first time this season, Jamie Cureton provided a welcome drop of sunshine in amidst the gathering injury gloom by declaring himself fit for Saturday's home clash with Cardiff City.

The 32-year-old striker missed the trip to Spotland having picked up a slight knock in the 2-1 defeat at the KC Stadium, Hull, last weekend.

And as Canary chief Peter Grant embarks on 48-hours of counting heads and waiting for the transfer phone to ring, so Cureton's …

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City boss Peter Grant was presiding over a full-blown, grade one, gold-plated injury crisis at Colney this morning after the mid-week trip to Spotland took a hefty toll on his playing resources.

His No1 concern revolved around Jason Shackell's ankle which took the full force of a Julien Brellier tackle in the penalty shoot-out success against Rochdale.

After that and a combination of knocks, illness and “everything” in the case of 38-year-old Dion Dublin ensured that …

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Being in a 'No win' situation is, as everyone knows, an ordeal that you can't get out of the way quickly enough.

But when you find yourselves in the position of being on the receiving end of a potential cup giant-killing act after you've just been beaten in the league, and when confidence might obviously not be as high as when things are ticking along nicely, it invariably cranks up the pressure to dangerous levels.

Of course, in cases like these if you are …

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Well, it could be worse. We could be Sunderland fans, or Wolves, or Derby.

We did at least win, in the end; and we do seem to have found a goalkeeper who can save penalties. Hucks looked a cut above when on the ball.

Erm, we kept going; we are in the next round.

And that's about it, really. For drawing with and being, for the first-half at least (not to mention parts of extra time), out-played by the team currently 91st in English football was rather …

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City full-back Jon Otsemobor was breathing a sigh of relief at Spotland last night – well aware that the Canaries had only nicked through by the narrowest of margins against lowly Rochdale.

It was a hair-raising night for the Championship side and the 400 or so Canary supporters who ticked Spotland off their list of league grounds.

One regular muttered that he had watched the first-half “through his hands”; it was probably the longest 45 minutes of Ian Murray's …

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