For City it never rains but it pours and as the dust settles on yet another horror show on their travels, the Canaries are left to ponder more injury woes.
Even by the Norfolk club's standards, this season has been luckless at best and Dion Dublin, again one of only two half-decent performers in last night's 1-0 loss at QPR, now finds himself beating a path to Neal Reynolds' door.
The 38-year-old – moved back into central defence in West London due to injuries to Gary Doherty and Ian Murray ? was his usual reliable self until his back gave way midway through the first-half.
He didn't appear for the second half and this latest setback will do nothing to lighten the dark and gloomy mood around Carrow Road as Peter Grant's immediate future remained the topic on everyone's minds.
“Dion has injured his back, which seems to be typical of our luck,” said Grant, after the defeat which left the Canaries without a goal to their name in over nine hours of football.
“He couldn't even move at half-time, couldn't get up off his seat. He said to me ten minutes before half-time that because he was warm he could get away with it but as soon as he sat down, that was it, he was finished.
“At the moment, he's standing straight but that's about all he can do.”
Speaking like a man who's starting to believe the ball is just not going to roll for him in Norfolk, Grant again lambasted his injury nightmare this campaign.
If it's not one, it's another. Not once has the Scot been able to put out the same starting XI to be fair.
“That's the way it has been going for us,” he added.
“We put Ian Murray on the bench at the last moment because we thought he had a fractured foot but he was desperate to be involved and I just thought I'd put him on the bench just in case.
“Sods law said we wouldn't have a centre-half on the bench and one would get injured. Sure as anything, that happened.”
What may have longer term repercussions for City is the fate of top scorer Jamie Cureton and Grant revealed after the game that the former Colchester man could be missing for up to eight weeks with the foot injury initially picked up in the home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.
“Jamie could be long term. He'll be assessed over the next two weeks and he'll definitely be out for that period. But the situation could be six-eight weeks if you look at his ankle right now. It came out of nothing from a kick last week.
“Doherty is the same ? three to four weeks ? and as I've said many times before, it just doesn't seem to be flowing for us.
“But we've still got the players out there who are capable of performing and winning football games. Yes we've had a turnaround of players, but there are no excuses.”
Despite City's current plight there was one small crumb of comfort for Grant ? the performance of the man he worked so hard to bring to Carrow Road in the summer, David Marshall.
The Scotland international was again in excellent form and if it wasn't for his acrobatics, the scoreline could have been much more embarrassing ? as hard as that is to believe.
He pulled off a number of excellent stops against a rampant Rangers in the second half and Grant believes he unearthed a gem in the summer, one that will shine brightly for City for years to come – even if it has to be under the tutelage of a new manager.
“It was difficult to take any positives from the game but Marshall has been excellent for us all season.
“He's a top class goalkeeper and is probably the best in the division and that is no disrespect to anyone else; that's why I fought so hard in the summer to get him and I've no qualms with him whatsoever but it's further afield where we need to look at ourselves ? myself included.”
As he said, it was very, very difficult to take any sort of positives from the match which could ultimately seal Grant's fate.
Even the most ardent Barclay-ite, who never dares to say a bad word about Delia, Doncaster, Grant and Co, would have left Loftus Road scratching his head after that showing.
And Grant was in no mood to argue.
“It was difficult to put into words. The disappointing thing was that we prepared for the game properly but didn't put it into practice.
“We had opportunities to score in the first-half, and they were good opportunities but we don't take care of that final pass and the ball was like a hot potato for us at times.
“It is very difficult to build any kind of momentum when you keep giving the ball away like we do.”
Tom Haylett
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