Jamie Cureton says a weight has been lifted from everyone's shoulders after the Canaries ended their 12-game winless streak at the weekend. The City hitman's fourth Championship goal of the season sealed a 2-0 win over Coventry - and says the monkey is now well and truly off the players' backs.

Jamie Cureton says a weight has been lifted from everyone's shoulders after the Canaries ended their 12-game winless streak at the weekend.

The City hitman's fourth Championship goal of the season sealed a 2-0 win over Coventry - and says the monkey is now well and truly off the players' backs.

“We needed the first one, it was so important,” said Cureton. “As each week went by it was the same pressure, 'we need that win, we need that win'. We felt from today up until the New Year was an important period, we needed results and we have one today.”

The champagne is hold, though, with City still three points adrift at the bottom and with a trip to Blackpool coming up tomorrow.

“We had a bit of a celebration afterwards - we now concentrate on Blackpool,” said Cureton. “It is hard because you want to celebrate a bit more, but you can't because we're not in a position to - and that was right. We now have to focus on the next game and until we are out of trouble we can't really do a lot of celebrating, but it is nice, we haven't had that feeling for a while.

“The manager was very pleased and it shows the hard work we have put in has paid off today and we need to produce that every week. We know we are good enough - you look round the place and think, 'why are we in this position?', we have so much quality, but there is no divine right to do well because of that.

“We have to start from scratch - we have to lift ourselves and keep climbing and today is obviously a step towards that and we now have to keep moving forward.”

Cureton believes the new coaching routines at Colney played a big part in the weekend's success.

“They have been very good and brought a freshness in,” he said. “I think everyone has really enjoyed training. The last two weeks has been really high tempo, a bit of fun, it has been good. We have always said the club is great, we just need to start winning games and it is a really good place to be. Today we have done one - we have to get a few more in.”

It was a trademark Cureton goal 13 minutes from time which clinched a more-than-welcome three points, the striker slamming home Matty Pattison cross from close range.

“A little tap in - very nice,” said Cureton. “I think the second goal was always going to be crucial - but my eyes opened up a bit when it came my way. I had a similar one at Burnley, maybe a bit harder, but I thought, this is going in and hopefully it will see us through to the final whistle.

“It was really pleasing and I felt we thoroughly deserved the win. Everyone battled hard and the tackles were flying in and it was a pleasure to be out there today - I really enjoyed it.

“I felt good. I have had a good two weeks training. I felt really sharp, even the coaches said I looked good in training. I have been finishing and I just felt a bit more like myself. I have had a few niggly injures and been a bit because of that and the performances but I think the break did me a favour. It was a good week's training and then a couple of days off and this week has been really good. Coming into the game today I felt really good, I felt better and sharper.”