Cort placing his faith in the power of positive thinking – that and getting the ugly right.

City striker Carl Cort today suggested that he was made of the right stuff as he declared himself fit for tomorrow night's trip to Queen's Park Rangers.

His foot, his calf and his knee might all be groaning under the strain of Norwich's hectic fixture schedule. But having been granted a second lease of life by the relegation-haunted Norfolk club, the 31-year-old was not about to hide himself in the treatment room.

He'll be there at Loftus Road – taking the battle to four, six-foot Rangers defenders.

“The body's coping – just about,” he said, with a wry smile. It took another late fitness test on Saturday morning to get the six-foot four-inch frontman onto the pitch against Coventry City.

Canary boss Bryan Gunn was earlier at pains to stress how grateful he was that Cort didn't take the easy option; that he still put a full, 90-minute shift in.

“It's been weird – because it's been minor injuries,” he added, with relief all round that it wasn't that knee playing up again. How much TLC it is actually receiving right now is, of course, another matter.

“But they've been ones that mess around with me functionally. But I've been able to cope with them. I'm just doing the best that I can at the moment – just to make sure that I'm fit for the Saturdays.”

And the Tuesdays, one hopes.

He was still relishing the fight – however long the odds were becoming of a successful outcome.

“Like I've said before, this is like a new lease of life for me. Obviously we know it's not an ideal situation for us to be in, but I'm enjoying playing my football. And every game that I go out there, I feel good – despite the little niggly problems I've got right now.

“I'm just delighted to go out there and be involved in every game.”

Given the way that he has sought to turn his own, professional footballing career around in the last 12 months and lay the ghosts of that persistent knee problem to rest, Cort is well-versed in the power of positive thinking.

It'll take just that – and the small matter of some 17 or 18 points minimum to spare the Canaries from a trip to the New Den next season as they follow the likes of Leeds United and Leicester City into League One.

The one-time Newcastle United frontman was duly staying defiantly upbeat – insisting that the dressing room's glass remained half-full as the world and his Canary wife appeared to be down to one, final drop of hope after this weekend's round of results battered the Canaries.

“From a neutral's perspective, you wouldn't know that we're in the position that we are,” he said. “The mood is still good.

“We still believe that we're in with a chance of staying up even if the other results went entirely against us on Saturday. But I think what we need now is six wins out of the 11 – and with the way that we're performing, it does give us hope that it's possible.”

The fact that many a punter already appears resigned to a new life down under is, says Cort, understandable.

“We can understand the way that they feel – for such a big club like this to be in the situation that we are we can understand their frustration. But, as I just said, it's far from over. And if we believe that – and they believe that – then, obviously, we've got more of a chance.

“I don't think they realise how important their positive vibes are for us.”

The important thing, he said, was being able to grind out results – perform the same sort of 1-0 away tricks that both Nottingham Forest and Plymouth managed at Reading and Wolves respectively. It was, he said, time to “bring out that nasty side of you”.

“That's what we need now until the end of the season – just to grind out results.”

And if it was a case of nicking a goal from somewhere – anywhere – and then just shutting up shop for the other 89 minutes, then maybe that's what City need to do.

“If you look at the teams at the other end of the table, none of them play as [much] good football as we are – but they do the ugly things well.”

Given the 'tools' at the managers disposal, that ain't easy. The likes of a Fotheringham or a Hoolahan, for example, don't quite fit City's need.

“Honestly, we've got a lot of talented players – and players who are very good footballers and like to play the game in a pretty way. But we're in a situation now where we can't afford to do that.

“No-one's saying not to play football in the right way, but we're in a situation where we just need results. And that's the most important thing.”