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It’s the law of supply and demand. Hartson demands it, someone has to supply it…

23rd October 2007 By Latest News Leave a Comment

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Afterwards, Lee Croft was his usual diplomatic self. ?Very disappointed,? was as strong as the 22-year-old got when quizzed about his omission from Saturday's starting line-up against Bristol City.

Opinion on the terraces, in the bars and across the message-boards will probably have been rather more forthright.

And as the Canaries head for Turf Moor this evening with the Carrow Road club at its lowest ebb spirit and league-wise for a generation, so many an eye will again focus on Croft's whereabouts.

If you're going to slam two big men through the middle – particularly one as immobile as the on-loan John Hartson, then you have to get the ball to them from out wide. Find yourself two wingers and give yourself the natural width and balance that a Croft-Huckerby combo offers… don't you?

?How disappointed was I not to start on Saturday? I was very disappointed,? said Croft, widely regarded as one of the few players to emerge with any level of credit from the miseries of Loftus Road.

?But that's the manager's decision and I don't want to say too much about it.?

Even Adam Drury's injury failed to prompt Croft's arrival as the luckless Ian Murray found himself back in his least-favoured position of left-back before eventually making way for Simon Lappin. At which point Darren Huckerby went away to the left, Croft came on on the right… and Huckerby scored.

With both Dion Dublin and Adam Drury missing out on the joys of a trip to Burnley tonight, caretaker boss Jim Duffy will be faced with the same tactical conundrum – does he keep youngster Michael Spillane in at centre-half and give Murray another go at left-back? Or does he keep Lappin where he finished the game and start Croft/

The only certainty is that the on-loan Jimmy Smith will feature – be it on the bench or from the start – as the Canaries desperately scratch around for any sort of spark or inspiration.

They could, conceivably, end the night bottom of the table should QPR pick up a result away at fellow strugglers Preston North End.

?A win has got to come from somewhere – and it's got to come soon,? said Croft, speaking after Saturday's 3-1 shambles against Bristol City – a result and a performance that all but sunk Duffy's hopes of securing the full-time job.

?We've got to start picking up points,? said Croft, with a glance at both the Championship table and the fixture list revealing the depth of Norwich's plight. The fact that the Reserves lost 1-0 at home to Grays Athletic Reserves suggests the malaise is widespread and deep-rooted.

West Bromwich Albion (a) on Saturday hardly looks enticing.

?It's pretty desperate now – two tough away games. But we've just got to focus on Burnley; hopefully go there, play well and try and win the game.?

Croft remains convinced that City's squad is too good to go down, but in the same breath is well aware that many a club has said that before only to disappear off the Championship cliff.

?I think we are too good to go down – I don't doubt that. It's all good saying it, but when you're losing week in, week out and you're not putting performances in then I'm fighting a losing battle trying to convince other people.

?So it's down to us to start proving it, rather than saying it.?

Clearly having a degree of clarity on the manager front would help. With no movement expected until next week, these are testing times.

The only 'certainty' among all the speculation is that Paul Jewell appears to have turned down the opportunity to manage Bolton Wanderers.

Hence the sight of Wanderers chairman heading off to Leicester City to try and talk to Gary Megson; to Real Sociedad to try and talk to Chris Coleman; to Birmingham City to try and talk to Steve Bruce.

Not the actions of a man who has received a 'Go on, then…' from the unemployed Jewell sat on his doorstep. Whether, by the same token, he actually fancies the Canary gig given Norwich's increasingly precarious position is something for him and the Mrs to ponder on holiday in Dubai.

He has yet to have a relegation clutter up his impressive managerial cv – right now, both Bolton and Norwich offer every chance of putting that right.

Back in Norfolk repeats of the last 45 minutes against the Robins would send spirits crashing to a new low.

Turf Moor has hardly been the happiest of hunting grounds for the Canaries at the best of times; right now, you could strike up the band and dish out the party-poppers if City came away with even a point from this evening's game.

Saturday's late horror show left Croft bemused and confused – in keeping with a club that is currently bedraggled and adrift.

?Where's it all going wrong? I couldn't tell you to be honest – nothing is going for us at the moment,? he said.

?Hucks got us back into the game at 1-1 with ten minutes to go and we've at least got to be tight then and maybe have the chance to go and win it at the end.

?But it's ended up with us conceding a goal; pushing on and then conceding another goal – it's gone from bad to worse. We should have capitalised in the first-half when we were playing well and maybe we could have had a few goals and maybe things would have been different…?

?But if you don't score then there's always that risk that the other team are going to get a foothold in the game, start playing and you're going to rue those chances that you missed.?


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