One or two of Mr Cureton's mates could be in the money this time next year as the returning Canary favourite continues to make a mockery of those 25-1 Golden Boot odds.
The 31-year-old made it four for the opening week of the new Championship season yesterday with his stunning, second-half double against Southampton – inspiring a 2-1 success that, in results terms, makes it a very solid start for Peter Grant's Canaries.
Performance-wise, City's start remains distinctly patchy. But there is an awful lot to be said for not playing well and still picking up points; dominate games from start to finish – as opposed to 45 minutes here and 30 minutes there – and who knows how close Cureton can get to picking up that coveted Golden Boot for a second, successive season.
Pretty close would be most commentators' judgement given the gloriously instinctive quality of yesterday's two, decisive strikes.
?I've tried to carry my game on from last season,? said the one-time Canary youngster, who arrived back 'home' some ten years and ?800,000 later this summer fresh from bagging 24 goals for the Us last year.
?It was important that I didn't rest on my laurels; I wanted to keep improving. So coming into this season I was obviously full of confidence and just wanted to keep that going.
?Obviously there's a different type of pressure since I've come here, but I was confident I could live up to it and, so far, the chances have come my way and I've taken them.?
One or two of Cureton's long-time Norwich pals clearly shared that confidence. Particularly when, at some stage, you bolt a certain D Huckerby into his supply line chain. It was, alas, last summer when you needed to slap the money on Cureton for the Golden Boot.
?I was 250-1 last year, so they've obviously cut my odds a little bit. And I'm sure friends have probably put a little bit of money on me and a bit more pressure and what not.
?But as a striker you always want to be up there battling around and I've always said that if I'm in the top five of this division it's a massive achievement because there's international players playing at this level.
?And that's my aim again – to be in and amongst it. And if I'm doing that and everybody else is performing, then we've got a realistic chance of being in the top six.?
Yesterday's two strikes – all on the back of his opening double in the Carling Cup clash with Barnet – were both classics of their kind.
Despite the fact that the indirect free-kick was little more than eight yards out, nine times out of ten either the tee-up is miscued or else the charging wall of opposition shirts clears the final drive. Mark Fotheringham played his part with the simple roll back to the waiting Cureton; thereafter the execution was top drawer.
Likewise, the instant swivel to volley home his second after controlling Lee Croft's cross on his chest was the stuff of a natural, penalty box predator. He's got it – just as he always had it on the playing fields of Trowse.
?The first one was obviously the indirect free-kick and I just tried to get an angle where I could get a clean strike at goal,? said Cureton, doing exactly that as he threaded his rising drive up and through the proverbial eye of a needle. Or rather, an army of red and white shirts.
?I felt if I hit it well enough, I've got an opportunity because you're so close in and I probably put it in the one place where no-one could get it. So very pleased.
?The second one was an opportunist sort of strike; it was put in the box; I managed to bring it down and as soon as I got it down, I knew I was hitting it and obviously I've caught it very sweet again and the keeper just couldn't get enough on it.?
Roared on by a very lively home crowd, Cureton would have bagged another but for a big, one-handed save from Kelvin Davis. In fairness to the City rearguard, they layed their part too in that opening hour with Adam Drury and Simon Lappin both clearing off the line and Gary Doherty throwing himself into a big, desperate block to deny Rudi Skacel just before the interval.
Character, if nothing else. They clung in there; didn't fold completely under a powerful Saints onslaught led by Sunderland and Derby target Kenwyne Jones.
?It shows character,? said Cureton, readily admitting that for the first hour or so Norwich were still in full Barnet-mode. Second-half Barnet mode.
?We sort of carried on from the other night, really, and didn't perform well first-half. And we played into their hands a little bit; playing long balls; we didn't look sharp; kept getting caught on the ball; went in 1-0 down.
?And until we scored the goal we still weren't really in the game, but once we got that the whole game changed and we showed again how we can perform. We've got very good players and we just need to try and get this performance out earlier in the game.?
It was, he insisted, not about him – even if he will earn all the headlines this weekend as the prodigal son lives up to every summer hope.
?I'm delighted. But more so for the performance – we want to keep winning games. That's what it is about. Not about me,? he said.
?But I've obviously been brought in to do that job here and so far its gone very well.?
Targets? ?I've always got targets, but I never tell anyone. But I do set myself smaller targets that I can reach quick and then keep moving on.
?First one was to get the first goal which I've managed to do. I've obviously got my first league goal… So, so far, it's going very well. And I just hope it continues.?
Leave a Reply