CHRIS LAKEY Glenn Roeder says nothing will convince him that Norwich City deserved anything other than all three points from yesterday's derby clash against Ipswich.

CHRIS LAKEY

Glenn Roeder says nothing will convince him that Norwich City deserved anything other than all three points from yesterday's derby clash against Ipswich.

The Canaries staged a brilliant second-half fightback to overturn a 2-0 deficit before an enthralled capacity crowd at Carrow Road. But while Roeder engineered a display that was better than anything City had served up in all their previous 13 Championship matches of a miserable season so far, the new manager was not entirely satisfied.

Good to be back it might have been - but his return to football after leaving Newcastle last May was missing one vital component: victory.

"I really missed it, really missed being involved for these past five months," said Roeder. "It was satisfying that the boys put in so much effort, what wasn't so satisfying was the effort they put in and the skill that they showed didn't take all three points because in my opinion we were the better team throughout the game."

City threw everything bar the kitchen sink at Ipswich, but two glaring misses by Jamie Cureton and some good saves by Town keeper Neil Alexander kept them at bay - while Ipswich made the most of the two chances that came their way to grab a healthy half-time lead.

But it was a different story in the second half as City refused to buckle, with goals by Martin Taylor and Cureton leaving the spoils to be shared, much to Roeder's dismay.

"We wanted a win and we showed our intent straight from the off," Roeder said. "We went at it straight from kick-off, we had them penned in for 10 minutes or so, they hardly got out. The keeper made an unbelievable save from (Dion) Dublin - I still can't believe how he got down and kept that out because Dion got such pace off the ball when he glanced it.

"Obviously Jamie's two chances which were glaring misses, four or five other shots - we were by far the better team throughout the game. There isn't anything that you will be able to show me to prove me wrong."

Roeder said that despite the lopsided look to the half-time scoreline, there was no need for tea cups to be thrown in the dressing room.

"I didn't go in there screaming - and I'm not a screamer by the way," he said. "I didn't go in there shouting, there was no need to. That is the last thing the players needed because they knew they had played well and they knew that they didn't deserve to be a goal behind, let alone two.

"We had spoken about this during the week that if, and we didn't want this to happen, if we found ourselves a goal behind, find the ability, the mental strength, to play as if you are a goal up, not a goal behind. Anyone can play a goal up or two goals up, stroking the ball around and the other team is chasing you, anyone can play in that situation. Not may people can play and put the same amount of effort and quality in when they are losing.

"They give in - well you would have never known we were two down in the first five, 10 minutes of the second half the way the boys attacked the game and I think I pointed a few things out and reminded them of what we had already spoken about.

"The thing they will find, though, is if we come in 1-0 up and we have played poorly, maybe I will be more vocal than I needed to be at 2-0 down when we had played so well, because it is about performance - if you get your performances right week in, week out the results will follow. It is not the other way round."

Now that City have shown they can improve, Roeder will be expecting more, starting with leaders Watford at Carrow Road tomorrow night - with the fans playing their part too.

"If we all love the club we have got to get behind the players because they have got to go out and play with that sort of pride and passion every game, which if they can do it once I don't see why they can't do it every game," he said.

"I think that we have to make the players realise that is the standard they have set, that's the benchmark and that's how it has to be for the rest of the season and they will find that in training at Colney that we will demand the same thing in practice.

"And if we are not happy with the amount of effort being put in in training we will stop the session and start it again until we get what we want. Then it becomes habit - you won't have to ask them so much for so much effort and passion."

Roeder has some concerns for tomorrow: Dublin came off at half-time with a tight hamstring, while Darren Huckerby will definitely be out after his late red card for dangerous play after raking his studs down Jonathan Walters' shin, an incident Roeder has yet to comment on.

"I did have a good view," he said. "I think it is far too early for me to say anything about it until I have seen it. It looked like both players had raised their boot, not just Darren.

"The lad Walters looked like he had raised his boot pretty high as well, but I won't comment on that until I actually see the incident myself and if I feel (referee) Rob Styles has got that right I will need to speak to Darren about it."