City chief Glenn Roeder this morning had the fire of derby battle in his eyes ? out there on the edge was, he said, just where he liked to live his life.
And as either side of the Waveney prepared for this Sunday's clash, so there was little doubt that it will prove more edgy than most.
For the Canaries one more win should see them stumble safely over the finishing line relegation-wise. That while Barnsley's extraordinary 3-0 win at Watford on Wednesday night might have set yet another cat among the pigeons, even by the Championship's extraordinary standards this season 55 points should be enough to avoid the drop into the third tier of English football.
Down the road, however, and the mid-week home draw with FA Cup finalists Cardiff City will have the Town faithful shuffling ever closer to the edge of their seats as that race for the sixth and final play-off spot reaches the now-or-never stage.
With a round of games to go tomorrow before the two, age-old rivals clash and with Ipswich away to Wolves next weekend, Jim Magilton's troops cannot afford another slip up on Sunday.
They will be firmly on the edge ? just where Roeder likes to be.
?The bigger the game, the better,? said Roeder in this morning's pre-derby Press conference.
?For me personally, the bigger the stakes the more I look forward to it,? he added, with this season's trip to Suffolk having more at stake than most given that we are now firmly in the business end of the season.
?As I said when I came here, I enjoy sailing close to the wind and being on the edge otherwise life would be pretty boring ? end up pushing a trolley round the supermarket with your Mrs.
?And the wife won't mind me saying that. Because if I go round a supermarket she knows what would have been ?200 ends up being ?400! So she doesn't want me there??
The City boss took the opportunity of Wednesday night's home game against Cardiff to see Town for himself and came away expecting a good game of football on Sunday with the ball more likely to be on the floor than orbiting high in the air.
?For all the work that we do looking at DVDs on the opposition, nothing beats actually being there and having the wide-angle lens, if you like,? he said, well aware that the top five may now have gone.
Whether or not that sixth and final slot was the only straw left for Town to cling to was, he said, not a question for him to answer.
?That's a question for Jim, but they have to get back into it.?
As for his impressions of the Suffolk side on Wednesday night, there were no great surpises.
?I thought what I've always thought of them ? that they're a good, footballing team. They want to pass the ball; to play the game in what I think is the right way.
?And I'm not surprised because that mirrors the manager. I've watched Jim Magilton many, many times playing for Ipswich and he was a passing footballer. And the team mirrors him.?
As does Norwich, Roeder ? the passing centre-half who could have made the term 'libero' his own.
?It should only add to a decent game of football because that's what we want to do. Both teams want to get the ball down; both teams will want to get the ball down on the floor as much as possible.
?Of course, there's room for balls that are clipped over the top or travelling in the air ? we don't play a game of below head height. Be nonsense.
?But the game, basically, as far as I'm concerned is played on the grass. And Jim's team does the same. And I think generally speaking Ipswich have done that under George [Burley] and Joe [Royle].
?They've always had what I would call footballing managers. There are a certain group of managers who I'd think would never manage Ipswich. And that's not having a dig at anybody. Not publically.?
Perhaps Tony Pulis might not need to apply as and when the next Portman Road vacancy comes up?
Injury-wise the Canaries look to be enjoying a virtual clean bill of health ? and all at the right stage of the season, too.
Roeder wasn't, however, about to give Magilton any clues ? it was ?two from three? at both centre-forward and centre-half. Darren Huckerby would, it seemed, rack up his 200th appearance in a City shirt against the old enemy.
?We're OK ? we're fine,? said the City chief, quizzed as to whether he had any injury alarms going into this weekend's derby meeting.
?Adam [Drury] we know is long-term; it will be a week too soon for Chadwick. But he's out there training again ? and that's good to see,? added Roeder.
Chadwick, of course, has more cause than most to look at Portman Road and wince. It was, after all, where his long-standing shoulder problems came right to the fore as he found himself slammed into an advertising hoarding on his debut.
For while all the attention, at the time, was concentrated on the bloody gash to his knee, the way that his shoulder popped out in the midst of Matthew Bates' robust challenge finally prompted this season's operation to pin the joint back in place.
It appears that the gloves are now coming off in training as the players are allowed to tackle the luckless Canary winger and, unlike Drury, he could yet make a re-appearance before the end of the season.
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