Two-goal City hero Dion Dublin was passing out the compliments at Bloomfield Road last night – with the back four and the new manager, in particular, getting a big pat on the back.
Oh, and his long-time pal Darren Huckerby who rolled back the years to their famed strike partnership at Coventry City as he rolled the ball across into Dublin's path for his injury-time second of the night.
Glenn Roeder first as the new City chief puts te Canaries right back in amongst the relegation pack – bottom now only on goal difference and all after looking so forlorn and adrift just three, short weeks ago.
?How much of the credit does Glenn Roeder have to take? A massive amount; massive amount,? said Dublin.
?You guys are at the training ground and you know what it's like. The camaraderie's been good; always been good.
?But it's got better; we've got closer. Training has been even more intense. But the training ground is not an intense place, it's quite a relaxed place – so we've got a happy medium at the moment. And we have to keep that going.?
Which was an interesting observation – that the intensity of the Grant year appeared to have been softened by a lighter touch about the place.
And then there was that back four – a defensive line in which both the on-loan Martin Taylor and skipper Jason Shackell stood out. Rocks upon which the Seasiders foundered at home for the first time this season.
David Marshall's 80th minute penalty save was also worthy of a mention in Dublin's despatches.
?I thought the back four were absolutely superb,? said Dublin. ?I thought they won the game for us. Marshy's penalty save was absolutely outstanding and the players that got the block at the end was absolutely brilliant.
?Yes, I got two goals – but they should get the applause. Three points – and I thought the back four were superb.?
And Huckerby? ?He's told me to say this: 'Darren Huckerby was superb tonight. Played the ball for me and I put it in the net. Credit to him. He told me to say he's been doing it for 15 years – and he has.?
In fairness, Huckerby's return from that three-match ban seven minutes into the second-half did cause Blackpool all manner of problems – it was his searing run into the heart of the Seasiders' penalty area that finally prompted the corner from which Taylor scored.
It was, likewise, Huckerby's late run and low cross that enabled Dublin to tuck Norwich's third goal away and ensure that City's travelling support finally had something to savour on the long journey home.
It was, said Dublin, a strange feeling this away win thing.
?It's been so long since we've had one – I don't know what it feels like,? laughed the veteran City striker, quizzed as to his thoughts immediately after last night's contest.
For the record Norwich's last away win came in the 'Nigel Worthington game' away at Leicester City last April. Since then, however, and the Canaries had taken just one point for their many away-day troubles before last night's 3-1 success.
Little wonder that Dublin's memory was getting a little fuzzy. That said, the significance of last night's long-distance away win wasn't lost on him.
?It means that we've turned a slight corner in the way that we approach games and the way that we apply ourselves to games,? added the Norwich striker, after racking up his third and fourth goals of the season.
?And I'm just so pleased that we've got an away win – it's a great feeling for the boys. I thought we worked very hard for it.
?It wasn't a pretty game; we didn't play particularly well. But I just thought the way we went about our job… we stood toe-to-toe with people, we looked them in the eye and got the better of them.?
What that means in terms of the bigger picture depends on the next step that City take on that long and winding road to safety – stumble and fall at the Britannia Ground on Saturday and one or two doubts could resurface.
?It's only going to be significant if we keep getting the wins that we need,? said Dublin, now with two big 90-minutes under his belt and with no sign that he can't add a third at Stoke City this weekend.
?We've done very well to get two wins, but it is only two wins. We've lost far too many. Two wins is great; it's taken us in the right direction but we've not really achieved anything yet apart from stopping the rot.?
The rot, hopefully, finished at Plymouth – one game that couldn't be laid at Dublin's door as he missed out on that 3-0 defeat with hamstring trouble. That, in itself, tells part of the story.
?It was woeful from what I hear from the players and the staff. Everybody was embarrassed by that performance – and we didn't want to repeat that. We didn't want to repeat the feeling that the players had after the game.?
Nor, you suepct, do they want to witness Roeder peeling the paint from the walls as he suggested he did at Home Park.
?This is how we do that – we don't want that feeling again.?
As for the feeling that comes with scoring a goal, that doesn't dim with age. It's the same as when he was a teenager with Cambridge United all of 19 years ago.
?It was a very important game tonight – if we hadn't have got anything tonight then the Coventry game was a waste of time. It wasn't; we got a win tonight,? he said.
Leave a Reply