Just back from the match (a while ago) - random ramblings....

My nephew was mascot so did a lot of hanging around outside the changing rooms. All the players were really nice about signing his shirt and posing for a photo. Farke was particularly good at stopping for a chat, despite looking veeerrry focused the few times he came in and out.

Mo, Timm and Ivo came in together when the other players were out warming up. Mo confirmed he's back in full training. He seemed a bit moody to be honest - hopefully because he just wants to be back playing! They watched from one of the boxes.

They're staying up in the North-West at the same hotel all week (in Preston), training out towards Blackpool.

Nephew was delighted to choose to go out with his favourite player, Onel. He was a top man.

To the match....

Didn't see the first goal as there were two people stood up directly in front who refused to sit down! I think some others had complained about them because the stewards came across not long later to escort them out (not sure if ejected or just moved, hopefully the latter). They were sitting on the periphery - if you want to stand up throughout, go and join the main group who are doing that!

Their penalty looked incredibly soft to me - was right in front of us. Don't know how it looked on TV? Krul got a hand to it but was in an awkward spot as he'd dived over it and couldn't adjust quickly enough. Annoying!

Overall we just didn't seem "at it" first half. Giving the ball away repeatedly. My dad (not a Norwich fan and doesn't really watch us) pinpointed Trybull for particular criticism and was delighted when he was removed from the action at half-time.

The ref seemed to be a "homer" to me. He only gave our penalty once Tettey had furiously remonstrated with him for 5 seconds! I immediately said "Oh s**t. We're not going to score this."... and of course we didn't. Why can't they score penalties FFS?!! I think if we'd scored that we would've gone on to win it but we'll never know! The ref seemed to buy all of their obvious attempts to win cheap fouls and not vice-versa.

Second half was absolute carnage. Attack, attack, attack! No idea what formation they were playing. Godfrey seemed in theory to still be the second centre-back but was mainly found bombing up and down the right hand side. Tettey was frequently on the edge of the area in shooting positions but was also slotting in as a second centre-back when required. Everyone appeared to be marauding everywhere! Total football.... without the goals unfortunately.

The away crowd were really quiet in the first half but got going in the second as we built some pressure (and attacking towards our end). Emi was constantly trying to gee up both the crowd and his teammates to keep going, despite not having the best game personally.

Declan Rudd got man of the match and made a lot of saves but I didn't feel like any of them were at full stretch. He seemed pretty comfortable with our efforts on goal. He embarrassed himself at the end for me Clive. Punching the ball away into the crowd after we scored - unnecessary but fine, take a booking for your team. From where I was sat, it looked like Max just pushed him in the chest (again, fine, take a booking and understandable) but Rudd's reaction, lying on the floor holding his head was ludicrous, the cheating bastard. Needless to say, he got some abuse from the crowd for this. He then compounded it at full-time by turning around immediately on the whistle and giving it a massive scream looking directly at the away fans... the cock! When getting his stuff out of the goal he then tried to placate the mob by applauding the Norwich crowd but was given short shrift.

I particularly liked the: "You're a Diss boy. You should be ashamed." shout!

Not the result we wanted but I think the players will be fully switched on now at Bolton. The derby being on Sunday, followed by travel and not much rest I'd imagine had an impact on them last night. They'd certainly woken up second half but it was unfortunately a bit too late. Looking forward to going to "the Unibol" to watch again at the weekend and can hopefully see a commanding performance befitting potential league champions. Onwards and upwards.

Posted By: JD3, Feb 14, 13:38:19