CHRIS WISE Robert Earnshaw claimed his first goal in Norwich City colours at the weekend - but he his unlikely to get it! The £2.7m striker followed the ball into the net as the Canaries grabbed a dramatic 87th minute equaliser at Hull on Saturday afternoon - and accepted the congratulations of his colleagues afterwards, even though a home player had appeared to get the final touch.

CHRIS WISE

Robert Earnshaw claimed his first goal in Norwich City colours at the weekend - but he his unlikely to get it!

The £2.7m striker followed the ball into the net as the Canaries grabbed a dramatic 87th minute equaliser at Hull on Saturday afternoon - and accepted the congratulations of his colleagues afterwards, even though a home player had appeared to get the final touch.

Earnshaw was still suggesting he had opened his account for his new club after the game - albeit with a cheeky grin in his face - but it wasn't long before video evidence was produced to confirm that it was indeed an own goal, with winger Stuart Elliott the unlucky player.

Speaking before he had had a chance to view the replays, the Welsh international quipped: “Put it down to me! It was just bobbling around in the area and went in. I was in there so, yes, I am definitely going to claim it.

“To be honest none of us are sure who got the final touch, but I'll have it!”

Earnshaw may not have got his goal at the weekend - but he had still helped his side to come away with a hard-earned point and he was determined to highlight the positives after bouncing back from a distinctly low-key debut against Ipswich the previous weekend.

“I think there was a big improvement today,” he said. “Last week we just kept playing it long. People in this team can play and they need it put into their feet. We were all disappointed with the Ipswich performance and we worked very hard in training to put things right. We knew our passing had to be a lot better today - and it was.

“The last 30 minutes is when we made good use of the ball. We actually started playing people in. We got Huckerby in and we got McVeigh in as well when he came on. He is a clever player and he is the one who put the ball back in for the goal.

“Now we need to play like that for the full game. If we can do that we'll improve, there's no doubt about that.”

He added: “Hull made it very difficult for us. At times they only had one player up front, with other people joining him. It's frustrating when you play against a home side who have virtually everyone behind the ball. But that is something you have got to deal with sometimes. You have got to use the ball well when you are up against a team like that and that's what we did in the closing stages.

“We kept going right until the right whistle which was also pleasing and in the end we got what I think we deserved on our second half performance.”