Canaries midfielder Darel Russell admitted he is desperate to break his Coca-Cola Championship scoring duck for the season.

Canaries midfielder Darel Russell admitted he is desperate to break his Coca-Cola Championship scoring duck for the season.

Having bagged seven goals for Stoke last season, the 27-year-old rejoined Norwich in the summer with hopes of bringing goals to City's midfield.

But despite making 20 league appearances for the Canaries this term, Russell has yet to score a goal in the Championship this season, although he did get on the scoresheet in Norwich's 5-2 defeat of Barnet in the Carling Cup's opening round back in August.

“I've been dying to get off the mark and I'm gutted I haven't managed it,” said Russell, who came within a whisker of doing so against Colchester last weekend, before seeing his header hit the post from six yards out. “I didn't think I glanced it that much. I haven't seen it on the video yet, but to see it come off the woodwork for me is devastating. I really should have put it in the back of the net.”

In his first spell at Carrow Road, Russell managed six strikes in 99 starts. His best season in front of goal by far was last term for the Potters, and Russell's current record is one he'll be looking to rectify as quickly as possible.

Although he missed with the goal at his mercy, the midfielder's blushes were saved a minute before time at Layer Road when Gary Doherty's goalbound header was knocked into his own net by defender Danny Granville, earning City a vital point to keep them out of the Championship's drop zone.

Russell believes Norwich can build on the point they took from what proved to be a disappointing game last Saturday.

“We came here with the ambition of getting three points today and it wasn't the case but the circumstances of how the game panned out, a draw's a good result in that sense,” he said.

“It's a small pitch here and they play it very well and it was tight midfield today and real tight all over the pitch. It was difficult to get the ball down and play and the floodlights weren't brilliant. But everyone's in the same boat but we ground away and got ourselves back into the game after a difficult point to concede the goal.

“It was a scrappy horrible first half. We were lucky we weren't down.

“Their goal was probably coming to a certain extent and we've dug in. It took us from then to dig and really start to get going. We put up a good fight and kept the pressure up. Docs (Gary Doherty) has done brilliantly from a header and we've got ourselves level.

“If we can continue on the path of remaining unbeaten and picking up points we'll move ourselves up the league.

“We're continuing the run and keep pushing and we've got to go and get a result at Scunthorpe now.”