Veteran City hero Dion Dublin added to the chorus of frustration and disappointment that echoed around Ashton Gate on Saturday night.
A furious Glenn Roeder led the charge after watching his side produce arguably their best performance full stop of his five-month reign only to lose to potential champions elect Bristol City in the last 30 seconds of the contest.
And while many may rightly argue it was yet again, one small slip in concentration that enabled Steve Brooker to steal in at the far post and put the Robins within sight of back-to-back promotions, there was still a huge dollop of injustice to be digested on the back of Andy D'Urso's wrong call deep into second-half stoppage time.
“It was rough,” said the 38-year-old, with a description that was equally applicable to both the final result and the weather as a savage squall buffeted Ashton Gate all afternoon.
But given every opportunity to put the ball down on the floor and play by their nervy hosts, the Canaries took up that challenge with relish and made light of the filthy conditions to give the Robins the complete runaround. Without ever earning their due reward.
And while Sheffield Wednesday's inability to count to five may yet see the gap to the drop zone restored to five points, the pressure remains on Norwich to dig another big home win out of this weekend's clash with Burnley.
“It was disappointing,” added Dublin, after watching his long-time pal Darren Huckerby wipe out Dele Adebola's opener as the Canaries camped out in the Robins' half after the break.
“You've fought and got yourself back in the game; it's 1-1; you think: 'Well, we might nick this…' Or we'll take a point – and away at a team like this, it's very good.
“And then a decision goes against you like that… It's frustrating. Angry.”
For the first time in recent memory, the players' post-match warm-down ended in a huddle; the crowds have long since departed into the squally night.
It was, it seems, a case of getting everyone in close and keeping the belief; keeping the faith.
“We'd worked so hard to get into a position like – and then to get a decision like that which goes against you,” said the Canary striker, still many people's favourite to lift this year's Barry Butler Memorial Trophy in four weeks time.
“When it's clearly their guy that handles the ball… You work so hard and then, in the end, all the work is flushed down the toilet by bad decisions.”
The fact that Saturday's last-gasp success left the Robins perched at the top of the table as the Canaries continue to scrabble about for the last couple of results to keep them safe merely added to the deep sense of frustration.
Step back from the weekend fury and the sense of injustice can fade; the Norfolk side are where they are through a lack of consistency over the course of 41 Championship games. And that's not a charge you could lay at the feet of Mr D'Urso.
The Canaries either can't buy a win for lose nor money or else they can't stop winning; there's never any in-between. Either black or white; feast or famine. Nine times out of ten, the teams that succeed in this division are those that are less poor than the others less often.
“I've said to you before, it's just consistency – they've been more consistent than we have. We've lost too many games; we just haven't been as consistent as them.
“And yet you look at today's evidence and we should be exactly where they are. Very frustrating that we didn't get anything out of the game. Very frustrating.”
It could, of course, have been different – particularly when Mark Fotheringham dropped a wonderful, first-time cross onto his head mid-way through the first-half. Moments later and the cross-bar shuddered, Robins keeper Adriano Basso long beaten.
“I probably caught it too well, to be honest,” said Dublin, who would make way for the luckless Maceo Rigters on the hour-mark.
It prompted a long and generous round of applause from the home faithful. Aware or not that Dublin is now less than six weeks away from retirement, it demonstrated again just the level of esteem in which the 38-year-old is held by the wider, footballing public.
“I didn't expect that at all,” admitted the City striker. Had it been Eastville-boy Cureton, the reception might have been wholly different.
“I heard them clapping and I thought: 'That's unusual…' Because you never usually get that. And I thought for a moment: 'Hang on, it must be someone else coming off…'.
“But if people have got that kind of respect for you, then you have to give it back. That's the way it should be – they clap me off and I'll clap them. And that was very nice of them. I thank them for that.”
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