Holt looking ever more like the man for this season as he starts to really hit his stride

It was very interesting listening to the thoughts of Grant Holt following his latest star showing at the weekend.

Three goals against the old enemy, two more to rip three points out of the hands of Coventry City this weekend, the 29-year-old now has six goals from his last five Canary outings – 11 all-told for the season.

Pretty much bang on course for 20 for the season – the kind of tally that can make all the difference in this league.

Find yourself one, 20-plus marksman and get three or four more boys chipping in around the eight, nine or ten mark and provided you are not leaking like the proverbial sieve at the other end, then you will be there or thereabouts.

“It’s not a bad return,” said the Canary skipper afterwards, as he pondered his current 11-goal haul.

“It took me a few games to get going, maybe six or seven,” he added. “But I’ve never really played in this division week-in week-out.

“It takes a-while to find your feet, but I’m enjoying it.”

Most weeks his sporting a grin from ear-to-ear – the reasons being not too hard-to-fathom.

But what is interesting is Holt’s timing. It’s all-but perfect.

Equally telling was the sharpness he demonstrated within that six-yard box; he is clearly alert in both mind and limb as the business end of the season looms ever larger on the Canary radar.

The movement was excellent; having the strength and the foresight to nick that extra yard where and when it mattered.

In a way that summer injury might have done Norwich many a favour.

It has helped to keep the City skipper fresh. He’s not tiring as the Canaries head into that final back bend. In fact, he’s just hitting his stride. Just when it matters.

You could, likewise, argue that the two, recent enforced lay-offs via suspension have helped on the freshness front – the downside, of course, being the fact that his finishing was so sorely missed in that 2-0 home defeat by play-off rivals Pompey.

And there is another point about Holt. His frame; his physique. When the pitches start to freeze and cloy – as they inevitably will over the next two months – he shouldn’t suffer as much as, say, an Arturo Lupoli or a Mike Sheron.

Both might be all fine and dandy with the sun on their backs and a flat penalty area to play with. Give them a freezing fog or a leaden sky and a ploughed field to play on and their weaker limbs start to shy away from the scrap.

Holt, you suspect, is built to last; whatever this winter has in store for us.

“It was documented I was injured and missed most of pre-season, but I’m enjoying it,” he told BBC Radio Norfolk.

“I’m playing in a team that creates opportunities, we’re playing fantastically at the moment and it’s great to be involved.”

It’s also great to be at the head of a team that can boast three forwards as it did at the Ricoh; that can find space for the likes of such creative talents as a Henri Lansbury and a Wes Hoolahan; that can insist on its full-backs surging forward at every given opportunity.

Russell Martin proved that point on Saturday with the neat, dinked cross for Holt’s opener. What’s not to like, in short.

“We play in a very attacking way, even at home,” said Holt. “Obviously at home there’s more emphasis on us going to win the game, but away from home we get the freedom to play in a way where we try and win the game.”

Which then, of course, brings us back to Mr Lambert and the attacking manner in which he sets out his stall away from home.

Norwich don’t go out to defend away from Carrow Road; they don’t go out to nick a point. They go out with every best attacking intention – and Holt duly reaps the benefit.

I guess there is one, final point to be mentioned at this stage. The other beauty about Holt is his age.

If he was in this form and the kind of age that a Connor Wickham is at Ipswich, you’d half expect him to be gone by the end of next month. A Premiership club will always take a punt on a good ‘big ‘un’.

At 29, I think Holt has his heart set on reaching the top flight with the rest of his boys in tow – you can’t see any reason why the forthcoming transfer window should do anything to knock him out of his formidable stride.

The stage looks all set; the pieces and the players look in place. And Holt looks the man in command.