Jamie Cureton is thrilled to see Norwich City pushing for promotion – but may not watch any more of the Canaries’ games, on the eve of his own landmark achievement.
The City youth product is still going strong at 43 years old and is set to make a remarkable 1,000th appearance of his career over the Easter Weekend.
The prolific striker, who scored 24 goals in 108 games during two spells with Norwich, and is currently top scorer in the Bostik League Premier Division with 20 goals, where he is chasing promotion to the second tier of non-league as player-manager of Bishop’s Stortford.
“I might be a jinx because I’ve watched the last two games on telly and obviously they’ve not performed too well – so I might have to stop watching them!” the former Canaries marksman joked.
“I’ve not been to the games live because obviously I’ve not been able to but a lot of their games have been on the telly. I’ve watched both of the last two and they’ve not performed to the levels they have been – but they’ve shown good character.
“I watched the Reading game (a 2-2 home draw), because it’s another one of my teams, and they fought back and then maybe just didn’t manage the game well enough and keep the ball in the Reading half. Then the Wigan game (a 1-1 away draw) where they’ve had to come back again to draw.
“So it seems like they’re stuttering a bit but you look at them and the season they’ve had, and the players they’ve got, I’m more than confident that they will see it through and get promotion – which would be unbelievable for the club.”
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Cureton has 359 goals to his name from his 999 appearances, so can appreciate just how special Teemu Pukki’s 27-goal season has been.
“It’s ridiculous!” he added. “When he was signed a lot of eyebrows were raised, no one knew too much about him, but he’s been outstanding.
“When you look at him, he’s not a big guy, he’s not someone who is going to lead the line and hold the ball up but what he is there to do is get goals and he’s done that throughout the whole season.
“So to get 27, and potentially he could hit 30, is unbelievable in the Championship.
“If he’s part of the team which gets Norwich promoted he’ll be highly regarded for a long time and fair play to the recruitment team who got him in because he’s been a hell of a signing and it’s probably his best ever season.
“So well done to the coaches and everybody because they’ve obviously found the best way to get it out of him and he’s responded.
“Being a goal-scorer, anything over 20 is phenomenal, and he’s getting close to 30, so in the Championship I know that’s not easy to get close to, so he’s done very well.”
• Check back to this website tomorrow morning, or see Thursday’s Eastern Daily Press or Norwich Evening News, for more from Cureton ahead of his landmark game
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