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We came up against three new signings that day in Peter Crouch, Darren Huckerby and Kevin Harper who were all on loan. Crouch scored the crucial first goal but he, along with Harper have left although Huckerby finally signed a permanent deal with them.
Burnley went into that game in 10th place and that was four places above Norwich in the league table. They passed us with that result in a league table that had Nottingham Forest set to go second and Ipswich in bottom place.
They have been pretty consistent since and currently have the best home record in the division having been beaten only twice at Carrow Road this season. Incredibly those defeats came against Watford and BRBC.
In contrast away from home they are somewhat more average with six wins and five defeats but right now, along with West Brom they sit eight points clear of third place and are beginning to look more than just favourites for a return to the Premiership.
Manager Nigel Worthington decided to boost the squad back in December and he brought in three new players in the space of nine days. First was Peterborough’s Leon McKenzie who cost £325,000 and two days later they signed Mathias Svensson from Charlton.
The trio was complete when Huckerby who had returned to KKMC two weeks earlier and had already refused a permanent move had a change of heart and completed his move on Boxing Day for £750,000.
They weren’t expected to make any moves ahead of the transfer deadline but took Kevin Cooper from Wolves on loan. He had just spent two months with Sunderland without making a first team start and has been on the Norwich bench for the last two games.
Off the field they have just revealed that they will be adding extra seats for next season by filling in the corner between the new stand and the one behind the goal, the corner by the previous away fans turnstiles.
This had not been scheduled until the finances were better but there has been such demand this season for season tickets that they have decided to go ahead immediately this season ends.
Delia (and I promised not to mention her) will probably have to do another couple of television programmes to pay for it.
Back to the football and they were back to winning ways last Saturday with a 1-0 win over Stoke but by all accounts it was hardly a conclusive victory although they were able to get away with a missed penalty from Huckerby.
The winning goal came right on half time from Mathias Svensson but new England recruit Robert Green, Sven needs three sub keepers, was in inspired form and made one stunning save to prevent a goal from Gerry Taggart.
The Norwich side last week, and the one that could well line up against the Clarets, was:
Robert Green, Marc Edworthy, Malky Mackay, Craig Fleming, Adam Drury, Paul McVeigh, Gary Holt, Simon Francis, Darren Huckerby, Leon McKenzie (Kevin Cooper 70), Mathias Svensson (Iwan Roberts 81). Subs not used: Paul Crichton, Jim Brennan, Phil Mulryne.
It will be a tough game but one we can definitely get something from. Get down to the Turf and back the lads this Saturday. In fact make a weekend of it and go to the Trust Open Meeting on Sunday.victory.
Click HERE to see Norwich City’s results this season.
Past Results in the last 20 years
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
a | |||||
1987/88 | LC | h | 1-1 | ||
a | 0-1 | ||||
2000/01 | 1 | h | 2-0 | 15,017 | Payton Davis |
a | 3-2 | 17,507 | Ball Taylor Moore | ||
2001/02 | 1 | a | 1-2 | 19,849 | Armstrong |
h | 1-1 | 14,679 | Taylor | ||
2002/03 | 1 | h | 2-0 | 16,282 | McGregor Little |
h | 0-2 | 20,026 | |||
2003/04 | 1 | a | 0-2 | 16,407 |
Click HERE
to see more results against Norwich City.