Gary Gowers

With Bassong’s initial challenge – the one that caused the whole furore – looking to be nothing more than ‘meaty’, the visitors may now regret making such a fuss. When a tackle of that ilk is deemed worthy of a ‘yellow’ then football, for me, is getting perilously close to being a non-contact sport. Do we really want to go there?

The ride we’ve been on had to end at some stage and – as Hughton has reminded us on numerous occasions – we will lose several times this season. It’s always disappointing when it happens and – I can guarantee – doesn’t get any easier to take with age. The success, or otherwise, of those boys in Yellow does have a nasty ability to make or break impact most of our weekends.

At least Barcelona can rest a little easier now they don’t have the Canaries breathing down their necks in that well-known European ‘top league’ form table. I’m sure Messi, Xavi and Iniesta slept so much more soundly on Saturday night.

The disappointment of the Capital One cup exit was quickly forgotten as City returned to ‘business as usual’ with that gritty win over Wigan, but if we learnt one thing from the Villa game it was that, minus Wes, we lack a little bit of creativity

With the latest instalment of City’s triumphant march through the autumn of 2012 ending in another win, there’s little reason to doubt anything our leader says right now. That some of the aforementioned belief has been instilled in the class of 2012/13 is certainly not in doubt and with the unbeaten league run now stretching to a record-breaking ten games, the Canary Nation too is now starting to believe.

That we missed the wizardry of Wes is not in question… who wouldn’t. My feeling is that without him we just need to find another way of playing; one that doesn’t rely on the ‘number 10’ role acting as the hub through which everything flows.

It was a turning point; a day when the new broom did start sweeping clean. It was also one that will furthermore be known simply as ‘game two’, on our record-breaking (number yet to be determined) unbeaten run.

The Liverpool disaster still brings back painful memories – for me at least – but the progress made in the intervening 66 days is immeasurable. In Chris Hughton’s words the antidote to that, and the marginally better fare served up at Chelsea in the game that followed, was to ‘go back to basics’.

While the performance failed to reach any of the heady heights seen recently at Carrow Road, it was still composed, solid and controlled… just how Hughton likes it. Two banks of four with the full-backs tucked in has proved a hit on the road of late, and last night was no exception.

For those of us who’ve watched and played the game, the first half showing – coming as it did off the back of the Manchester United spine-tingler – didn’t come as a complete surprise. I’ll avoid the Lord Mayor cliché, but to produce such a lack-lustre 45 after previously scaling the heights isn’t unusual.

Last night was a classic case of Team Hughton getting the tricky balance of defence/attack absolutely spot on. To go ‘gung-ho’ against the likes of United leaves you wide open to be picked-off on the counter-attack, and to park the bus merely invites them to further pile the pressure on.

The price being paid is that chances created for Grant Holt and co are currently less plentiful. It’s no coincidence that the last two homes games have been 1-0 wins – but while the points are being accumulated I don’t think there’ll be too many complaints. Hughton’s risk and reward strategy is currently producing a profit…

For Hughton, the return of Grant Holt – following his opening, five-game sabbatical – and the emergence of one Sebastien Bassong have gone a long way to answer these particular questions. No room for complacency of course, but add Alex Tettey into the mix and there is now promising looking spine running through the side…

The bit that seems to be missing from the Stoke model is that football is an entertainment industry and we, the fans, pay handsomely for the privilege of watching these highly skilled sportsman at work…

The cliché ‘name on the cup’ is not one I tend to use – makes it sound as if you just need to turn up, do nothing, yet still miraculously appear in the hat for the next round. But it makes you wonder doesn’t it? How else could you explain this phenomenon of late winners, penalty saves, home draws and ‘dream’ ties?

He had to settle for a point against a Villa side that, surprisingly, looked to have improved very little since that desperate visit to Carrow Road on the final day of last season. I wrote back then – following their dire performance and subsequent successful pursuit of our manager – that Villa looked more in need of a Paul Daniels than a Paul Lambert. I witnessed nothing yesterday to change my mind…

Chris Hughton and Co will, I predict, remind us that Saturday’s is just another game and – however big we chose to make it – there are still only three points at stake. All true and laudable, except it ISN’T just another game – and there are two million reasons why that not the case…

If that winning feeling wasn’t sweet enough, I was reminded during Saturday evening ‘s triumphant march back over Carrow Bridge that some of the visiting guests – from that North London enclave called, Beccles – were predicting their heroes would put six past us. Oh how wrong…