CHRIS WISE Norwich City manager Nigel Worthington backed Robert Earnshaw to score a hatful of goals for the Canaries after seeing him open his account for the club at Carrow Road last night.

CHRIS WISE

Norwich City manager Nigel Worthington backed Robert Earnshaw to score a hatful of goals for the Canaries after seeing him open his account for the club at Carrow Road last night.

A nervous evening ended on a high note as the Welsh International scored twice in the closing stages to earn the Canaries a somewhat flattering 3-0 victory against a relegation-threatened Brighton side who had to play for most of the second half with just 10 men.

City struggled to impose themselves after Darren Huckerby had struck just before the half-hour mark to give his side a deserved first half lead and the dismissal of Adam Hinshelwood for two bookable offences seemed to inspire the Seagulls rather than their hosts.

But Norwich managed to record their first win of 2006 in the end and Worthington was delighted, both with the result and the contribution of his £2.7-million new boy.

“Football is all about winning and sometimes it doesn't happen quite as easily as people would want,” he said. “But we got there in the end and it is a very pleasing result.

“As for Robert Earnshaw, he has proved himself at this level, his goals per game ratio is first class. He had an indifferent time at West Brom - you might say he didn't get a chance - but he will get plenty of chances at this football club and I'm sure he will score plenty of goals.

“When you lose someone like Dean Ashton you've got to do something and I'm delighted that he joined this football club.”

Referring to Earnshaw's acrobatic goalscoring celebration he added: “I've just seen a couple of good back flips out there and I'm sure I'll be seeing plenty more of that!”

Worthington admitted his side had made hard work of their victory but felt they deserved the three points to go with the battling draw they picked up at Hull on Saturday.

“I think we started the game very well and got a deserved goal to get a deserved lead,” he said. “But once we had got ahead we tended to stand back and as a result Brighton got back into the game.

“But the most important thing is we stuck at it. We played some good football at times and not so good at others, but we defended well and got there in the end.

“I don't think anyone would deny we deserved all three points and it's a good result for us after the point we picked up on Saturday. Now there is another home game to look forward to and I'll be looking for another positive result in that one.”