City striker Jamie Cureton would have been more than happy to have claimed Saturday's last minute goal – if only to hammer home his point to the watching Us fans.
Last season's Golden Boot winner was Mr Unpopular from the moment he stepped off the bus at Layer Road this weekend and having booed the Canary favourite from first minute to last, the Us supporters looked set to have the last laugh after Kevin McLeod's 78th minute strike looked set to condemn the visitors to a swift return to the bottom three.
However, Gary Doherty's 89th minute knock-down and a hapless poke goalwards from Danny Granville duly levelled the scores – and all with Cureton on hand to make sure that the ball did, indeed, scramble across the Us goalline.
The 32-year-old's celebrations in front of the travelling Canary supporters and the full 'Kiss the badge…' routine ensured that everyone halfway down the A12 knew exactly where his affections now lay.
“Obviously when you come back to your old clubs, it's important that you don't get beat because you're going to get a lot of stick,” said Cureton, who had left Colchester ?900,000-odd the richer after his summer switch back to his former teenage haunts.
“But obviously in general for the boys and for the club, it's a vital point for us to get – to come away from home and to a tough place too,” said Cureton, well aware that the Canaries were never at their free-flowing best.
Chances were few and far between and for his new teenage strike pal Ched Evans, it was a rare occasion where he didn't find the back of the net after the on-loan teenager's two-in-two heroics going into this weekend's game.
“We didn't play well; didn't play well as we could have done. But to come away with a point is pretty pleasing.”
It was, in short, a classic East Anglian derby; a messy, unappealing affair that was never one for either the footballing purist or the Sky Sports armchair fan. But, in the bigger picture, simply denying the Us all three points from a home game was one job done.
“We probably had a few chances in the first-half, but it was a bit scrappy all round really,” he admitted.
“Maybe we did enough to have won the game, but once they scored it was obviously backs against the wall and it was then just acase of trying to get something back and trying to claw a point out of it which we managed to do in the end.”
Having seen Granville's own goal again, Cureton was clearly more than tempted to see if he might add another effort to this season's six-strong collection.
“Having seen it from behind again, it didn't look too bad,” he said. “It looks like I might have got a touch, but I think the defender's toe-poked it in. But if you're willing to give it to me, I will claim it!”
Which, in his mind, would have made the evening's outcome all the more sweeter after a roughish ride from the natives.
“I expected to get booed, but to be fair I'm a bit disapointed,” said Cureton, who made his wantaway intentions clear after seeing pals Richard Garcia and Chris Iwelumo move away on frees after the Us failed to agree new contracts with either player.
That, in turn, led to Cureton throwing the big A-word into the hat – ambition. Or rather the perceived lack of it. Typically honest, it was those comments that probably came back to haunt him on Saturday night.
“I think for what I acheived for the club, I don't think they could ever have expected it.
“And obviously to come here today and get completely booed for the whole 90 minutes – it wasn't like you get a cheer and then get booed during the game which you can kind of accept – they booed me throughout.
“And I did say in the run-up to it, that if they don't respect me for what I've done then I won't respect them. And that's what they got at the end.”
It was all a marked contrast to the last Norwich-Colchester clash at Layer Road when Cureton, then of the Us, refused to celebrate a stunning goal in that 3-0 humbling out of respect for the travelling City supporters.
Some six months on and his relationship with one set of supporters was fast fracturing; for the other set, he will always be one of their more favoured sons.
“Yes, they don't like it. But I would say for what I achieved – and what the whole squad achieved last year – I bet the other four players that left don't get a reception like that. And I ended up doing as much as anyone and I get booed.
“I'm not going to lose any sleep about it, but it's disappointing,” said Cureton, quite animated in his post-match thoughts.
“Maybe I've just got one of those faces that they want to boo, I don't know. Maybe I was a bit more public about wanting to leave. But I just felt it was the right thing for me to do – and I think they should respect that.
“The should respect what I achieved here, but they haven't – and they showed that from the moment that I walked out on the pitch.
“But that's life; it's gone. But if they think they can boo me for 90 minutes and not get anything back then they're very much mistaken.”
Leave a Reply