City boss refuses to be downbeat

David Cuffley

City boss Paul Lambert refused to be downcast after his side's second Championship defeat of the season.

The Canaries crashed 3-1 at Doncaster in front of more than 1,000 travelling fans to slip from joint sixth to eighth in the table.

But Lambert praised the way his players performed after going 2-0 down five minutes into the second half.

He said: “You can't tell me they are going to play brilliantly every single game. It's very tough to do. There are times when you find it hard and you have to defend for your life to get through and I can't be over-critical because they have given me everything.

“We came here and had a right good go and I thought in the second half we were excellent. The first goal was a wonder goal - you can't stop that. Sometimes you've got to hold your hand up and say it's a brilliant strike, but we tried.

“The second goal gave us a mountain to climb but I was delighted with the response, getting a goal back and I thought we were on the ascendancy from there. The third goal - that can happen right at the death.

“I thought we were right in the game until that third one went in, but you can't give teams like that a two-goal start.”

Lambert included winger Anthony McNamee from the start and juggled his formation before reverting to a more familar shape.

He said: “We changed it halfway through the first half to try to get a foothold in the game because they were coming at us at every point. I thought in the second half we were excellent and with a bit of luck we might have scraped an equaliser. On another night we might have got one.”

Skipper Grant Holt was substituted 10 minutes from time with the score 2-1, Oli Johnson replacing him, but was not injured, said the manager.

Said Lambert: “He's fine. We just tried to go another route because Oli gives you a little bit when he comes on sometimes. It was my decision to change it.”