City skipper Grant Holt is ready to unleash his frustration on Gillingham this afternoon, as the promoted Canaries aim to wrap up the League One title at Carrow Road.
The 30-goal striker has missed the last two outings through suspension – including that promotion-clinching 1-0 success at the Valley last weekend – but he’ll lead Norwich out today with the hosts needing just a point to be crowned champions.
“Obviously it’s never nice being out,” he told the press at Colney yesterday. “I was disappointed with the way the yellow card came about and I think it was a bit petty of the referee. But obviously if the manager puts us back in tomorrow I can’t wait.
“It’s been a little bit tense in the last couple of weeks, with the way the results have gone. We’ve been a little bit edgy but we’ve got the promotion now.
“It’s a relief to get over the line and it’s been a long time coming. It’s been frustrating watching and I was actually stripping the walls upstairs last Saturday when it was all happening!
“I kept going up and down the stairs and hearing that Fraser [Forster] had made another save but I stayed out of the room really, rather than sit and watch it. People were texting me but I just tried to ignore it really and wait until it was done and dusted.
“It’s what we’ve been working hard to do all year, get promotion. It seems like it’s been dragging on for weeks and weeks but we’ve got it now – and now we’ve got the added job of going on and winning the league.”
Boss Paul Lambert will today serve his one-match touchline ban but Holt insisted it won’t make any difference; the Canary squad know full well what the ‘gaffer’ expects by now.
“I’m sure he’ll still be able to have his say if things aren’t going right, he can still come in the dressing room, and he can still say his bits and bobs. We know what he expects; it doesn’t matter if he’s in the stands or on the touchline.
“This week he hasn’t let us get carried away too much, he’s talked to us about how he wants the league, he’s said to us for the last three or four months that he wants to win it and we’re going to go out there and try and get it.”
Despite the fact that Citystill face three more games in the third tier, thoughts are already beginning to turn to the Championship. And while Holt wants to take some momentum into 2010/11 with three more wins, the Canary talisman is confident they can hold their own in amongst some brighter lights.
“We’re going out there and there are still points to play for and things we want to achieve. We’ll be going into the game exactly the same as any other we’ve done this year – we won’t be resting on our laurels.
“And we know next year is a different ball game in the Championship. We will be working hard all pre-season getting ready for it. We don’t want to go there just to have a mediocre season and be up down, up down – we want to go up there, be consistent and work as hard as we can.
“We know it’s going to be tough. But if the gaffer can add to the squad where he feels the need to strengthen, we’ll do all right.”
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