City defender Michael Spillane capped a fine performance against Leyton Orient with his first goal for City and then admitted afterwards – ‘it was no surprise to me!’
Playing at right-back in the 4-0 success on Tuesday night, he was given license to get forward but his 81st minute strike, in which he cut in from the right to drill a left-footed shot into the corner of the net, really was special.
And while he was taking plenty of stick from his team-mates afterwards, Spillane revealed that he always fancies himself to hit the back of the net.
“It was all right. We’ve done a lot of shooting lately in training so it was probably down to that,” he said after the game.
“All the lads have been giving me a bit of stick saying it’s a surprise – and I’m a bit gutted they think it’s a surprise!
“I’m just glad I’ve got my first goal for Norwich now as I’ve had a few cleared off the line and stuff before.
“When I play right-back I enjoy getting forward and I enjoy getting on the ball. Obviously I like to play a bit of football so I enjoyed it,” he told the official site.
Along with the near-24,000 packed into Carrow Road, Spillane was certainly a relieved man afterwards as City delivered the thumping they have been threatening for a while.
But for long spells it looked like it could be another frustrating night as the O’s looked to battle their way to a point in their ‘cup final’.
It’s a recurring problem for City that when the division’s lesser lights come to Carrow Road, the occasion squeezes the very best out of them.
And Orient certainly made life tough for the Canaries, up until that 75th minute opener from Chris Martin, there were plenty of frayed nerves in the stands.
“I thought it looked like it was going to be one of those days again where we just battered them but didn’t get a goal, but in the end it came for us and we got four.
“Obviously you’ve got in the back of your mind that after we’ve dominated the game that much you don’t want to draw 0-0.
“But the way we played, it always looked like we were going to score. We had to be patient and in the end our quality shone through.”
“And as for Chris’ goal, if you put him in that situation he’ll score nine times out of ten, so I knew when he was through that he would score and I was buzzing for him.”
As well as praising his fellow Academy product and the other half of the ‘Luton two’, Spillane also hailed the Canaries’ new strike partnership.
Wes Hoolahan and Grant Holt have certainly given League One defences plenty to think about in the last three matches and you’d have to say that – on paper – there are not many better in the division.
And Spillane revealed that with Holt leading the line, and Hoolahan causing havoc behind the City captain, the Canary squad are always confident that they can do plenty of damage.
“We know we’ve got good players here. When you’ve got Wes in that hole and Holty up front you’re capable of absolutely murdering teams – when you’ve got players like that you’re going to be confident.”
Tom Haylett
Don’t go too far away over the next day or two as MFW will have all the news and views from Paul Lambert’s pre-Bristol Rovers press conference as well as how Pirates chief Paul Trollope is preparing for the long trek east.
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