DAVID CUFFLEY Dickson Etuhu got on the scoresheet one last time as Norwich City's season ended at Hillsborough - but not in the way he would have wished.The big midfielder was credited with Sheffield Wednesday's third goal in their 3-2 win when goalkeeper Tony Warner missed his attempted clearance from Etuhu's return pass and could only watch as the ball rolled into the net to give the hosts a 3-0 lead early in the second half.

DAVID CUFFLEY

Dickson Etuhu got on the scoresheet one last time as Norwich City's season ended at Hillsborough - but not in the way he would have wished.

The big midfielder was credited with Sheffield Wednesday's third goal in their 3-2 win when goalkeeper Tony Warner missed his attempted clearance from Etuhu's return pass and could only watch as the ball rolled into the net to give the hosts a 3-0 lead early in the second half.

An own goal was not the way the Canaries' top appearance maker would have wished to remember his 50th match of the season.

"I thought it was Tony's. Unfortunately these things happen in football," said Etuhu. "It was very unlucky. He said to me at the end of the game he was sorry about it. Maybe I should have played the ball away from the goal, but I honestly thought he'd deal with it comfortably. It bobbled just as he went to kick it."

Etuhu and manager Peter Grant were both agreed on one thing - the match was a fitting reflection of City's season.

"It was a funny game today. It summed up our season," said Etuhu, who collected a yellow card in the first half.

"The gaffer had to go crazy at us at half-time for us to go out and perform like we did in the second half. But it was too late. We can't keep being second. We have to start from the start. Teams like that shouldn't be doing what they did to us today - no way.

"The second half was a lot better but I couldn't tackle anybody in the second half because the referee said he'd send me off. So I had to take it easy in the second half. I could only get close but not tackle."

Asked to assess City's campaign after more than six months in charge, Grant said: "The two halves today summed it up - Jekyll and Hyde. Some performances have been excellent, some performances have been awful, but all in all, though I've not used the excuse during the season, I can use it now. I'd like anybody else to go with the injuries we've had.

"If you see the bench today again, you just can't live in this league with that. You look at the teams that have been successful, you look at the bench and those players would be in my first team."

Grant saved most of his criticism, however, for the match officials, especially when striker Robert Earnshaw was ruled offside in first-half stoppage time, Wednesday switching to attack from the resulting free-kick and making it 2-0.

"Earnshaw was through and I've no doubt he'd have finished it. Even from the position he was in he was through, the defender was on the wrong side of him and he was heading towards the box. It's not just the decision, but from the free-kick they end up getting a goal from it. It ends up with a corner, cross and goal. It all snowballed - we could have been equalising.

"You say you maybe get one decision wrong, yes, but it's a big decision. You can't get big decisions wrong as plain as that."