Forget Easter – this was Oestrogen Saturday!

Men in Bury St Edmunds – you don’t know what you’re missing out on!
Forget the Beer Festival and scoffing Easter Eggs – I spent my Easter Saturday morning getting hot and sweaty with ten gorgeous girls in beautiful Nowton Park.
Liberte have male members in Bury, but the girls are starting to seriously outnumber the boys – today I was the only male on a scorching Saturday session.
I must admit I felt a little like Billy Elliot to start with – you know the bit when he first ditches the boxing gloves and decides to hang out with the girls on a full time basis.
But the beauty of Liberte is that feeling goes in an instant and I honestly didn’t notice as we enjoyed a lovely 2.3 mile lap around the park, squeezing in burpees, half sit-ups, press ups and star jumps as we went around.
There was plenty of banter with the girls, a fun Easter egg hunt for protein bars and a great way to spend a Saturday morning.
But come on dudes, don’t let me have all the fun – get on down to http://www.libertefitness.com/ and register for a trial.

Ipswich 1, Norwich 5 - The stuff dreams are made of

What a surreal feeling today after Norwich's emphatic 5-1 win at Portman Road last night in the East Anglian derby.
Unfortunately I couldn't get a ticket for the game and as the games wasn't televised I had to listen to Radio 5 Live's excellent coverage of the game.
Any win would have been a bonus, but to go to Portman Road and return with a 5-1 victory really shows just how far we've come as a team in the 20 months or so since Paul Lambert took over from Bryan Gunn.
It really is only one year and eight months since we were getting turned over in our own back yard by Lambert's Colchester.
Sadly I feel for Ipswich - only as far as I know how I'd feel had the boot been on the other foot and they'd have left Carrow Road with a heavy win.
I'd feel incredibly low and sick of football - so that makes this thumping win even more enjoyable!

Super Steve's awesome effort in the London Marathon

It was down to London for the Marathon yesterday and despite watching sport all over the world, I’ve never seen a marathon. I’m showing my age a little now, but I actually remember the first one which I watched 30 years ago in 1981 as a six-year-old boy. I’ve always remembered that Charlie Spedding was the first winner. Fast forward to 2011 and I must say it’s a great spectacle to attend, so if you’ve never been I would really recommend going along. I was there to support my friend Steve Wood, a member of the Greenwich Tritons running team who was running in aid of MacMillan. This was Steve’s third London Marathon and late last month I spent a week on holiday with him and his lovely wife Hannah which gave a valuable insight into the slow pre-race build up to Marathon Day. Steve was 2-3 weeks away from the big London event and bashed off three 20-mile runs on alternate days while the rest of us mainly ate ice cream and watched on in awe. The one thing that was interesting for me was Steve’s diet. It’s simply lots of food all the time – and when you start the day with a 20-mile run, there can be as much as 6,000 calories burnt. So it was good to hear that Steve was loading up with porridge and pasta ahead of his big day yesterday. Along with Lorraine, Hannah and her dad, Chris, we formed Team Steve and started near his home in Woolwich where we first saw the runners. This was at the three-mile stage and it was actually fairly easy to spot Steve. He’d given us rough times that he would be in certain places and he wasn’t far off. Those times were based on a sub 3 hour race. At Woolwich he seemed to be fine, but as we left him too it and took a train towards Canary Wharf, stopped for a drink and a chat, Steve was racking up the miles around the capital. Canary Wharf is the 18-mile stage and we watched the likes of James Cracknell and Nell McAndrew waltz through, Steve was keeping good time, although at Canary Wharf he managed to tell us it wasn’t going too well. Another mad dash on to the increasingly busy trains and we popped up at Temple. Here Steve was just two miles from home as he ran down the Embankment. The heat of the day was taking its toll. Steve was doing well compared to some of the others. One guy stopped right in front of us, lurched from side to side and nearly fell over backwards. Compared to him, the runners we had already seen looking dejected on The Tube and those that were walking for long periods, Steve was going great guns. We walked from there along The Strand to the finish where we were joined by more friends and family. Steve emerged to a good reception from us all with a time of 3:17 and most importantly, clutching that marathon medal. Worse of all, he looked like he didn’t have a bead of sweat on him! Well done Steve, super effort and we hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did.

Super City’s class prevails against Forest to keep up pressure on Cardiff

What an end to probably our worst week of the season this year - after one point from a possible six, City stormed back into second place tonight with a well deserved win over Nottingham Forest.

City fans could be forgiven for thinking the side was really on the slide after the heavy 3-0 defeat at Swansea last Saturday and a 2-2 draw at Watford on Tuesday - but if you really want evidence of a side on the downward turn, take a look at tonight’s opponents.

Forest have lost five out of six and have slipped out of the safety of the play-offs to seventh, while for Norwich the only real issue now is if we finish second or third. Tonight we did what we needed to do and heaped all the pressure back on Cardiff ahead of their game tomorrow.

Big injury doubts Grant Holt and Wes Hoolahan both started, with Holt alongside Simeon Jackson, who for me, had his best game in a City shirt tonight. Jackson’s time to shine would come later in the game, after an unbelievable start in which Forest took the lead with less than three minutes on the clock.

A back pass to John Ruddy was about to be cleared by the former Everton keeper when Nathan Tyson got in the way of the flight path and the ball bounced off his backside and into an empty net.

Norwich showed great desire to get back in the game and just as Watford overturned a 1-0 reverse on Tuesday, The Canaries bounced straight back. With ten minutes gone Holt headed home a free-kick and ten minutes before the break the City skipper sent Andrew Surman through to give City a 2-1 lead. That’s how the game finished but it doesn’t tell the whole story. City had great chances to score before Surman’s goal with Jackson involved in everything. He had a goal disallowed for offside, nearly beat Camp with a flick and made himself a constant nuisance down the left hand side.

Forest threatened too and looked great going forward. Lewis McGugan showed some blistering pace when he broke forward and rookie left back Brendan Moloney looks an excellent prospect. Forest seemed to suffer badly from missing players such as Dexter Blackstock. Kris Boyd was poor, Tyson went off early and Robert Earnshaw did nothing when he came on.

You get the feeling that if they had a decent striker, they’d really be a force in this league. Forest did threaten in the second half and John Ruddy pulled off some great saves and also showed some neat composure on the ball when he was called to a couple of times but as City huffed and puffed in their efforts to secure the three points our defence stood firm.

Anything less than a win tonight would have felt like we were out of the hunt for an automatic promotion spot, but under the electric atmosphere of the Carrow Road lights, we did the job. Four games to go against mid table teams and we could be up, let’s just hope Cardiff can drop some points asap.

Effortless Norwich put sorry Scunthorpe to the slaughter

After a week’s holidaying in North Norfolk I arrived back in the City on Friday afternoon and eased my way towards the big fixture against Scunthorpe. Driving through Kelling, near Cromer, on Friday morning I remarked to my good lady that the primary school football pitch at the small village school was the sort I used to ply my trade on in the early-to-mid 1980s while I was at Hingham Primary School. “We used to sometimes turn up with eleven players and we’d have to give the other school a couple as they used to be short - sometimes we’d play nine against nine.” And it was this thought that was in my mind after half an hour of this match against lowly Scunthorpe. New Iron manager Alan Knill had just seen his side reduced to ten men after a trip on Grant Holt and the skipper tucked away his penalty to give Norwich a 2-0 lead. I suppose had we leant them Elliot Ward and maybe given them Holt too, that may have made an even contest of it. It was safe to say that in this game, a nine man Norwich side would probably have beaten a 12-man Scunthorpe side, such was the gulf in class. Hopefully the two sides will both be in different leagues this season, with Norwich heading for the Premier League. Today at least, the gulf was massive. With striker Aaron Wilbraham ruled out for the season, recent loan addition Dani Pacheco was given a start alongside Grant Holt up front and it took just ten minutes for the two to combine to give Norwich the lead. Holt’s penalty made it 2-0 and with half an hour left, City wrapped up the points with Holt grabbing his hat-trick. Game over then, but more was to happen. Wes Hoolahan limped out of the game, Grant Holt was rested and City handed a debut to their second recent addition, Sam Vokes, who ended the game up front alongside Simeon Jackson. Jackson grabbed a fourth and then a fifth and in stoppage time helped himself to an unlikely quick-fire hat-trick. Plus points from today? Well, Pacheco looks a great player and seemed to effortlessly slip into the City system. Praise too for Marc Tierney who pelts forward with all the pace and purpose of Ashley Cole. At sometimes it seemed both he and Russell Martin were actually playing up front. The crowd too were excellent today, and it was great to see former City man Michael Nelson get such a great reception. He was a top servant when the club went through tricky times, but I can’t be alone in thinking it was great to see him again at Carrow Road and not in a Norwich shirt!

Late goals rush against Bristol City gives City something to hang on to!

Finally, we’ve got something to hold on to this season after late goals beat Bristol City.
I’ve never known a season fly by as quickly as this one, can it really be seven months ago that Watford came to Carrow Road, beat City easily and gave us all such cause for concern.
I was convinced after that match in early August that we were going to struggle this season, but after what we can now look back at a marvellous season, we’re in the top two and we’ve now got something to cling on to.
Sky’s choice to screen this clash meant all the other promotion challengers had played this weekend and after some great results, only single points were picked up by most of the top ten. That meant a win over Bristol City, themselves pre-season favourites to be there or thereabouts would give Norwich a three-point barrier from third place.
I’d missed City’s 1-1 draw against Preston due to illness, but was back in my Jarrold Stand seat to see City kick off with a real bang. Wes Hoolahan won a fortunate penalty inside 45 seconds and Grant Holt cooly despatched the spot kick past David James. One-up with less than two minutes on the clock.
From then on in, the first half wizzed by with the visiting Robins doing little. Albert Adomah, linked with City last summer went close, but City could and should have increased their lead, perhaps Simeon Jackson’s failure to get anything on a Russell Martin cross/shot was the most glaring miss.
City looked solid, Elliot Ward was simply outstanding and the midfield was busy and workmanlike. Jackson looked lively and on another night could have scored five. Sadly for the Canadian, he just doesn’t inspire confidence in front of goal. Sure he’s full of pace and positivity. But Jackson in the top flight? The jury’s out.
Jackson had the best of plenty of chances to put Norwich 2-0 or 3-0 up and an Andrew Crofts piledriver fizzed just over the bar. But despite the constant Norwich pressure – and it was at times just simply a matter of when Norwich scored, they just couldn’t get that vital second.
And you know what happens when you don’t score a second goal in The Championship? Yep, you get punished. Cue a quick break, some hesitant Norwich defending, a fortunate deflection and with 20 minutes to go, City found themselves at 1-1 and heading for a third straight home score draw.
Henri Lansbury came on for Jackson with ten minutes to go, and City pushed for a deserved winner.
With the game nearing the 90 minute mark, City found the winner. Hoolahan picked up John Ruddy’s long clearance, seemed to have fluffed his shot but then fired past James.
Four minutes of injury time to hang on for City and, with less than a minute of added time gone, it got even better.
Good work from Lansbury in the corner fell to Andrew Surman who hit the ball hard and low through James’ legs for his first goal in a City shirt.
Fantastic overall performance, crucial night for City to win, and now, something to build on for The Canaries. Win the rest of our games and we’re in the Premier League – and it’s been a long, long time since we’ve been able to utter to say that.