Eight seconds. That was the sum total of the highlights of Norwich's opening match at Preston on ITV's The Championship. Eight miserly seconds.
Not enough time to see a single Canary get anywhere near the ball. Only David Marshall was caught on camera, diving despairingly as Kevin Nicholls' shot slapped against the goal frame.
Hardly the most auspicious start to a new season.
Yet, it was what we didn't see that really intrigued me. And encouraged me. In recent times, any one of Preston's 15 corners might well have ended up in City's goal.
But under Peter Grant, Norwich seem to have developed a steelier edge. Where once they would've buckled and probably conceded defeat, a new found resolve helped them prise out a very praiseworthy point from what is traditionally a difficult venue.
Although their attacking moments were few and far between, this was pretty much the ideal start.
Solid defence and heartening evidence that a soft underbelly is these days rather more of a six-pack!
Yes, there wasn't much going forward. But for me, City's most pressing requirement in the last two years has been to tighten up defensively. And although a point and clean sheet at Deepdale doesn't automatically mean Grant's got it cracked, he is at least on the right lines.
Get us into shape at the back and the rest should follow. Increase competition with another centre-half in the camp and we could well be in a for a more rewarding season than of late…
How rewarding? I certainly like the look of Grant's summer purchases and if we could just get the flair players like Huckerby and Smith back to fitness then I think City could be a match for anyone in this league.
Play-offs? Maybe a season too soon to be considered possible Wembley contenders, but I look around at some of the supposedly fancied Championship sides and don't see too much to be frightened of.
Despite their surprising failure to see off Scunthorpe and Colchester respectively on the opening day, Charlton and Sheffield United appear to have the necessary strength in depth to be favourites for the top two spots.
Although I remain to be convinced that Captain Marvel can translate an impressive playing career into a successful managerial one, the Blades do look to possess the required firepower for a serious tilt at the title. Beattie and Sharp are surely full of goals.
Likewise, Charlton seem to have kept enough of their Premiership squad intact to ensure they'll be there or thereabouts. Plus, Alan Pardew has enough readies in his pocket for a rainy day.
Picking Charlton and Sheffield United hardly amounts to shock selections. If there is an outsider to challenge them it might be Stoke City. Tony Pulis is building nicely at the Britannia Stadium.
The usual suspects are likely to be in the running for the play-offs.
Wolves turned things round after looking one of the worst sides to play at Carrow Road last season. A cash injection at Molineux will certainly help Mick McCarthy.
Nobody will be surprised if West Bromwich Albion, Southampton, Crystal Palace and Watford are keeping them company. As an outside bet, Ian Holloway's Plymouth might be worth following.
So where does that leave Norwich? Potentially every bit as good as that chasing group, but does Grant have the strength in depth to keep up?
Albion's ?3million capture of Chris Brunt this week was a clear statement of their intent following Wolves' heavy outlay on Freddy Eastwood. Regrettably, City are no longer in that financial league.
As ever, Huckerby is likely to be the key figure. Regular readers of this website will know that I rate him among the five or six most influential players I've seen in my 45 years watching the Canaries, although I suspect the City manager faces a real dilemma about what to do with him.
If he'd been playing at Preston, Norwich would certainly have posed some kind of threat to Wayne Henderson's goal. He might well have won us the game.
Equally, his presence in the side could have been the difference between us taking a point and coming home with nothing.
You sacrifice defensive solidarity by accommodating Huckerby in the side. Who else but him, though, would have scored that remarkable goal which earned us victory against Birmingham City last season?
Leading us to glory, or a liability? It's one for Grant and Duffy to ponder as Huckerby regains fitness after his close season injury. Can you play him in home games in the knowledge that he's likely to wreak havoc, and leave him out away from home when you're likely to be under greater pressure?
Easy for us armchair fans, rather more taxing for those paid to make difficult decisions. But on such key matters are seasons won and lost.
In the meantime, we have to press on without him – keep picking up the points and it'll add up to a welcome problem to wrestle with.
Elsewhere in the club, there've been other difficulties to contend with. On the basis that there's no such thing as bad publicity, Norwich will surely be delighted at all the exposure concerning sickness and security.
It's not just the ill-fated barbeque they've been grilled on. There are complaints that Colney's become 'Checkpoint Charlie' following revelations that citizen journalists had established a bush telegraph through which City's trade secrets were falling into the hands of rival bosses.
Personally, I think the club has got it right.
Rick tells me that a man in his 20s had to be ejected from the training ground last year after demanding a trial. I don't know what Mr C Ronaldo was doing in Norwich and although I might have been prepared to let him join in training, City clearly knew best.
Another Colney regular tipped me off, swearing he saw Elvis. Two days later, we were being linked with Steven Pressley.
So that's the centre half we're chasing. Now, there's one for the money!
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