Cast your minds back to a time when Norwich City were challenging for top honours, rather than nervously hoping for a place in the play-offs… check out March, 2010
“We have given ourselves a bit of daylight, we have got four home games to go and we have given ourselves a little bit of a chance – just a chance.”
Not, sadly, the utterances of David Wagner, but one of his predecessors who turned disaster into a stunning promotion challenge.
It was on this day in 2010 that Paul Lambert’s Norwich City side went head to head with their closest rivals, Leeds United, on a tense and thrilling afternoon at Carrow Road.
It may have been a League One clash, but the two heavyweights of the division were slugging it out. It was a thrill a minute under Lambert who had, of course, been the man in the opposite dugout when his Colchester side inflicted that humiliating 7-1 defeat on the opening day of the campaign.
It wasn’t long before he was poached from the Us and began restoring the natural order. By the time he’d finished, City were champions and on an inexorable ride back to the top flight.
City went into the game top of the table, Leeds second. Lambert raised a few eyebrows when he dropped young striker Chris Martin to the bench after 27 consecutive league starts. “I just thought he looked a little bit tired,” said Lambert. “I had a chat with him during the week and he was great about it. As soon as I told him in training he was excellent, his attitude was excellent and that’s the response you look for.”
The response was a diving header from a perfect cross from Stephen Hughes with just a minute on the clock, to extend City’s lead to 11 points.
The bookies response was to make City 500-1 ON to go up.
Lambert was having none of it.
“We’ve had that for weeks on end, people saying we were going to do it,” he said. “I try and not listen to everything that goes on, I try to keep myself focused on it. It was probably from the outside people were saying the significance of the game. I knew in my own mind it was another game we had to try and win because there are still eight games to go, but it puts the pressure on teams below us. We have given ourselves a bit of daylight, we have got four home games to go, and we have given ourselves a little bit of a chance.”
Remarkably, the Leeds squad featured two ex-Canaries, Andrew Hughes and Leigh Bromby, and four future Canaries – Bradley Johnson, Jonny Howson, Robert Snodgrass and Lucian Becchio.
City finished top, Leeds just about kept their nerve to finish second, nine points behind.
Norwich: Forster, Nelson, Martin, Drury, Doherty, Russell, Hoolahan (McNamee 72), Lappin, Smithy (Hughes 85), Elliott (Martin 62), Holt. Subs not used: Whitbread, Rose, Johnson, Rudd. Goal: Martin 89
Leeds: Higgs, Naylor, Collins, Lowry, Doyle, Kilkenny (Johnson 86), Hughes (Kandol 89), Howson, Snodgrass, Becchio (Grella 15), Beckford. Subs not used: Gradel, Bromby, Ankergren, Dickov.
Referee: Lee Probert
Attendance: 25,445
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