Paul Lambert has issued a rallying cry to the Carrow Road faithful to help push Norwich City towards League One's promotion finish line. The Canaries face big spending Southampton tomorrow (3pm) with another bumper crowd arriving in the hope of seeing a 12th successive home league victory.

Paul Lambert has issued a rallying cry to the Carrow Road faithful to help push Norwich City towards League One's promotion finish line.

The Canaries face big spending Southampton tomorrow (3pm) with another bumper crowd arriving in the hope of seeing a 12th successive home league victory.

And with table-topping City now in pole position to lift the League One title in May, the Norwich boss has backed the fans to help them win promotion between now and the end of the season.

Speaking in his exclusive Evening News column, Lambert said: “It should never be underestimated what they do for us, because it is huge, and we need them. We need the fans.

“I get asked the question all the time and I've got to say, home and away, they've been absolutely phenomenal in the support they have given us. You cannot underestimate how thankful we are to have the fans behind us.

“We now need the fans to help us finish the job - and we will do everything we can.”

The Canaries have taken 47 points from a possible 54 in League One and a win tomorrow would equal the club's record of successive league home wins set in 1952 - which comprised of the last seven home matches of one season and the first five of the next.

Adam Drury, Cody McDonald and Zak Whitbread will all miss the game against Southampton, who have turned around their 10-point penalty for going into administration at the end of last season to be in with an outside chance of the play-offs this term.

Since their financial troubles in the summer, the new owners at St Mary's have splashed the cash - five new players were brought in last month, and manager Alan Pardew is already under pressure from chairman Nicola Cortese to deliver promotion off the back of it. All of which means Southampton - 15th in the table and 18 points off the play-offs, with two games in hand - will not come to Carrow Road tomorrow just to sit back and play for a draw.

Pardew said: “The situation in the league is such that if we were top of the league there would be a case for playing pretty sensibly, making sure the opposition didn't get a good start and look to win the game near the end which you can do when you're top of the league and very confident but we're not.

“We're chasing wins so we can't afford to do that. We have got to put ourselves at risk and in some ways open up the game a little bit. Now we've got to be good enough to do that and hopefully we are.

“That's what we'll do at Norwich. There is no way we'll go there and sit back. We'll try and take the game to them and hopefully boss it.

“They're a good team at dictating the tempo and we're going to have to knock them out of that. Norwich are going very, very well, they are on a tremendous run and are very strong at home. We've had two cracking games with them and I think we're in line for a third.

“I think we've got stronger as a team and they've got strong in their belief because their results have obviously strengthened their spirit.

“We've been strong without getting the wins we want in the league but we've improved in terms of individuals available. I think it's a very even game if I'm honest.”