City star Oli Johnson has declared himself ready for a starting berth after his two-goal super sub showing against Southend on Tuesday night.
After being introduced in the 68th minute, the 22-year-old terrorised the Shrimpers defence and notched the equaliser and that stoppage time winner to keep City three points clear at the top of League One.
But now he wants to go one better and make the same impact from the off. And according to the January signing from Stockport, he’s all set, despite drawing a blank on his only other start at Walsall last month.
“I feel like I’m ready. Fitness wise I may be a little bit short because I’ve not played a lot of minutes but I definitely feel like I’m ready.
“If I keep scoring goals and making an impact then it’s going to be hard for the manager to ignore my claims to get a start.
“But that’s the manager’s decision and there are two top class strikers in front of me in Holty [Grant Holt] and Chrissy Martin.
“You’ve got to recognise that they are in front of me for a reason at the moment but I’m going to keep putting them under pressure and keep doing my best to force my way in.
“But I’m willing to be patient. I knew when I came here that I’d have to be patient, with the players that are here. There really are some quality players at the club.”
It was another late, late show for Paul Lambert’s men against the Shrimpers and the likeable Yorkshireman admitted that the Canaries never know when they’re beaten.
“It was a team effort; nobody in the side gave up. We all drove on to the end and that’s what we’ve done in a few games this season.
“If you look at Walsall and Brighton as well, we didn’t give in against those teams. We got our just rewards and a massive three points.
“We didn’t play well – we know we can play better than that. But we never gave in and it just happened that I came on and scored.
“I want to carry that on to the next game and keep on contributing and we’ve got to go to Oldham on Saturday, which is another big game, as they all are. Hopefully we can play a bit better and get the three points.
“The lads are over the moon to get the three points because for a long while it looked like we were going to come away with nothing.
“There’s a massive buzz in the dressing room but we know we need to improve on Saturday performance wise.”
Johnson’s rise to fame has certainly been dramatic; after all, he was playing non league football with Wakefield-based outfit Nostell Miners Welfare less than 18 months ago before Stockport snapped him up.
But doing the business in front of 25,000 at Carrow Road is a different matter altogether. And for Johnson, it’s the stuff dreams are made of.
Can he quite believe it?
“No, not at all. Thinking back to two years ago, when I was playing for Nostell Miners Welfare – it doesn’t even sound like a football team!
“I was at University, not really knowing what I wanted to do. What’s happened in the past 18 months is hard to take in and sometimes you have to pinch yourself.
“Even signing for Stockport was huge but to come to a club like Norwich, with the history and the fans, well, I feel privileged to be here.
“I get shy sometimes when I hear the fans chanting my name because there are other players but it’s nice to be recognised by the fans and to have made an impression on them so far.”
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