Matthew Chambers Jamie Cureton is out to help settle a score for Norwich City boss Glenn Roeder by getting one over Burnley on Saturday.

Matthew Chambers

Jamie Cureton is out to help settle a score for Norwich City boss Glenn Roeder by getting one over Burnley on Saturday.

Roeder was assistant to Chris Waddle at the Clarets during the 1997-98 season when the pair narrowly avoided steering the Lancashire club into the bottom tier of English professional football.

Roeder proved to be both an unpopular and controversial figure with the Burnley fans, hitting a low point when he was reported to have said that star-player Glen Little was “not fit to lace the boots” of manager Waddle - the pair departed the club after just a single season in charge.

“I'm sure there are a few teams and managers that the boss has come up against in the past and has wanted to do well against,” said Cureton. “I'd definitely like to help him get one over them if I can. He's not talked about anything in the build-up to the game yet but he might mention one or two things to motivate us or to get something extra out of us if he thinks he needs to.

“But the most important thing for the manager, the club and the players is the three points,” added Cureton.

The 32-year-old striker is also still on the cusp of a momentous achievement as he is currently on a career total of 199 goals in all competitions in English club football. And he would dearly love to reach the double ton against Burnley on Saturday in front of his home crowd, for the club where he scored his first goal.

“I do hope so, it would be a really big achievement for me and a very proud moment. If it could help us to a win as well all the better.

“We were very disappointed to come away from Bristol with nothing having played well. We felt we deserved something but we'll take the positives from that performance and go into the game against Burnley in a confident mood.

“We had the kind of high tempo and quality about our game that was present when we went on a good run,” added Cureton, referring to the period from the beginning of December when the Canaries went 13 games unbeaten.

“When that run came to an end, and it was always going to at some point, it was about how quickly we found our rhythm again and it did take a few matches.”

City lost five of their next seven games to plunge them back in the relegation mire before the 5-1 demolition of Colchester, in which Cureton scored a hat-trick, helped stop the rot.

One more victory would take the Canaries to 52 points and ought to be enough to ensure their Championship safety. That cannot happen soon enough for Cureton who is determined to finish the season on a high and by so doing imprint the right images in the mind of boss Roeder for over the close season.

“If I can show him that he does not need to look elsewhere for a striker then all well and good. If I can show him I can be relied upon to score the goals then that's what I'll be looking to do and I'm sure a lot of the other lads will have the same sort of feelings.

“The sooner we are safe the sooner the gaffer can start planning for next season and I'm sure that is in the back of his mind already.

“I'm sure that he is going to be busy during the summer because the squad looks a bit thin, especially when you take the loan players out. He'll be out to bring more players on board and get things moving in the right direction next season.”