Tuesday 1 February 2011

Three lucky points against Millwall in the season you just don't want to leave early!

I don't think there are many City fans who will argue against the fact we are a very lucky club tonight.
After sitting through the first hour of tonight's game I was ready to chalk this one down as one of those games we're gonna lose every now and then.
Millwall came and parked the bus. They did what Pompey and Palace did this season, they just bled all our creativity dry, struck on the break and looked set to shut up shop and head down the A11 with all three points.
Saying that, there was still half an hour to go and I was incredibly surprised that people started to pack up on the hour and head out of the ground (a woman near me went on 62 minutes!) in this season when Norwich are making a habit of grabbing late, late goals.
Paul Lambert changed things around again after Saturday's draw at Crystal Palace, with Adam Drury, Zak Whitbread, Chris Martin and Wes Hoolahan missing from the starting line up. Simeon Jackson partnered Grant Holt up front and Marc Tierney made his first start.
It's the first time I've seen Tierney in a City shirt and I thought he was solid and reasonably adventurous going forward. Compared to the timid nature of Steven Smith, who may have been playing in his place on a night like this, Tierney looks miles better.
There wasn't much to chew the cud over in the first 45 minutes, Simon Lappin missed a couple of good chances, nothing went Norwich's way and 0-0 was a fair reflection.
Norwich were on the wrong end of some curious refereeing decisions in the early second half and after Millwall's opener, three changes were made with Aaron Wilbraham, Anthony McNamee and Wes Hoolahan coming on.
All three really freshened City up going forwards and, after Holt won a free kick with 15 minutes to go, Henri Lansbury clipped a lovely right foot shot against the upright and Elliot Ward stabbed home from close range.
City pressed and pressed for the winner, which didn't look like coming until late late pressure saw Lansbury pop up with a winner in the fourth and final minute of stoppage time.
To say we deserved this win is an understatement, but boy oh boy will we take it!
This game reminded me of the win over Southend at Carrow Road last February when we played pretty poorly against a team hanging on for the win. Oli Johnson's two goals that night against a team wearing the exact same colours also came pretty much at the same time.

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