Considering the events of the past week – and the emotional roller-coaster that the Canaries have already subjected us to – I think that it would be safe to assume that Peter Grant might have drawn up some sort of mini check list ahead of Saturday's clash with Southampton.
The hard-earned draw at Preston last Saturday and the first-half demolition of Barnet in midweek certainly had their plus points?but there was also plenty of things that evidently need to be worked on.
And it wouldn't be too difficult to hazard a guess that the three things of paramount importance as far as the City boss was concerned would be something along the lines of the following:
(1) Stay solid and disciplined defensively as a team;
(2) Take the game to the opposition with conviction whenever possible;
(3) Ensure that points (1) and (2) are maintained for the duration of the game.
So then, after this excellent victory, which of the above three boxes do you think could be confidently ticked?
Well, none to be perfectly honest, seeing as for the best part of an hour City were decidedly second best in most areas of the pitch and fast heading for a convincing defeat.
George Burley's Southampton looked bright and inventitive, and had City wobbling every time they delivered high balls into the penalty area.
Grzegorz Rasiak and especially Kenwyne Jones were worryingly getting the better of Jason Shackell and Gary Doherty, whilst the returning Youssef Safri and particularly Jhon Viafara were out-muscling Darel Russell and Julien Brellier to boss the midfield areas.
City were far from the solid and disciplined defensive unit that we had witnessed a week ago at Preston, and certainly a million miles away from the awesome attacking outfit that had ripped poor Barnet to shreds with a five-goal salvo within half an hour in mid-week.
And the longer the game progressed, the deeper the Canaries appeared to be sinking into an inescapable rut.
Southampton could, and should have increased their lead, and but for a couple of excellent saves from David Marshall the game would have almost certainly been over as contest.
At times like these you're usually hoping for something? anything of game-defining significance to help bail you out and change the course of the game.
And on the hour mark it duly arrived – a chink of light in what was otherwise fast developing into a very dark day.
For some reason Saints 'keeper Kelvin Davis ? who also made two fabulous saves himself later on – decided to handle a blatant back pass.
And Jamie Cureton promptly did the rest from the resulting indirect free-kick, smashing an unstoppable screamer into the top corner.
And from that very moment right up until the referee eventually called time on proceedings, City decided to pull their fingers out and make a real go of it.
Another typical Cureton goal nine minutes later sealed victory for the Canaries, and, at least on that last half-hour showing, fully deserved it was too.
But what the hell was that opening 60 minutes all about?
So we're here yet again I'm afraid folks.
Is it the half-empty or half-full perspective that we take when calling this one? Because make no mistake, the Canaries are just about as unpredictable a football team that it's possible to get right now.
When they're good they're very, very good?.but only, it seems, when the mood takes them!
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