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More reasons to be cheerful, but still finely balanced to my mind.

4th August 2007 By theexpert Leave a Comment

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It hadn't been the greatest of weeks for the Canaries prior to last night's friendly clash with Vitesse Arnhem.

There had been the occasional fleeting moment of success in an improved second half performance against West Ham on Tuesday night, but by and large City had had most of their weaknesses laid bare for all to see and generally been given the run-around by Alan Curbishley's men.

Then 24 hours later fan's favourite and midfield lynch-pin Youssef Safri beat a hasty exit from the club with Peter Grant's stinging rebuke still ringing in his ears.

Time was fast running out.

With the first game of the season just a week away and with City having endured a far from convincing sequence of pre-season friendlies both performance and results-wise, the match against Vitesse last night was the final chance to pull things together in order that the team could at least travel up to Deepdale next week with enough belief and confidence in themselves to get a result.

As it transpired, after 45 minutes of struggling to get he ball off their Dutch counterparts and resorting to hitting more hopeful long balls in the general direction of the forwards, City finally got the ball down on the floor and started top play a bit in the second half.

It changed the course of the game, and demonstrated to the 7,000 paying customers, as well as themselves, just what they are capable of when they put their minds to it.

Now whether the sudden shift in the balance of play was party down to the fact that the Vitesse players were seemingly intent on not bothering all that much after the restart or if it was actually the increased tempo and desire from City that did the trick is open to debate, but at least the manner in which the Canaries began to bully the visitors does at least give you the feeling that it could be an interesting season ahead if they can manage to play that way for longer periods in games.

There is certainly the basis of a strong and dynamic City side in the making without a doubt, as most teams in this division wouldn't mind the likes of David Marshall, Jon Otsemobor, Julien Brellier, Darel Russell and Darren Huckerby in their ranks.

It's whether or not the rest can now also step up to the plate that is the big question, because so, so much depends on it.

Julien Brellier made a very good impression on his debut and Jon Otsemobor once again gave everyone indication that he will be an excellent acquisition to the side, but David Srtihavka and ? to a lesser extent – Jamie Cureton haven't quite found their stride yet for my money.

Cureton will score goals given the right service, of that I have no doubts, but Srtihavka has to do a lot more from what I've seen so far if he is to provide the threat that he was brought here for.

With Darren Huckerby hopefully being fit enough to come into the side and more of the type of attitude and conviction on show in the second half from last night, there's no reason why City can't go to a David Nugent-less Preston next Saturday and take something from the game.

Anything less than that though, and not only will it probably prove to be a fruitless trip up to Lancashire, but it just might be another long hard season that lies ahead.

It's evenly balanced is this…


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