David Cuffley Jon Otsemobor's first goal for Norwich City heralded arguably his best performance for the club - and had manager Glenn Roeder calling for more of the same.

David Cuffley

Jon Otsemobor's first goal for Norwich City heralded arguably his best performance for the club - and had manager Glenn Roeder calling for more of the same.

Full-back Otsemobor's solo effort in the sixth minute set the Canaries on course for a 5-1 demolition of Colchester, to the delight of his boss.

Said Roeder: “I've been quite critical of Jon. He knows that inside the dressing room but as I always say to the players, when you don't do well, the time to worry is when I come in and say nothing, because then you're history.

“When I'm still positively criticising you to make you a better player, you know I'm still with you.

“Jon at times hasn't done as well as he's capable of doing. I sometimes get frustrated with him because he's got a lot of attributes that go to make a very good footballer - power, pace, he passes the ball with the inside of his foot as accurately and as hard as anyone I've seen. It's a really good technique that he's got there and today was without doubt his best performance since I've been at the club, his best 90 minutes.

“I thought he contributed, apart from the goal, to lots of good things in our play and the goal was fantastic. You'd have to say you would have thought he was an old hand striker the way he tucked that one in, great pace, and I'm really pleased for him. He should go home and enjoy his weekend personally because of his personal performance today.”

Roeder also gave defender Jason Shackell a “pat on the back” for the way he recovered from the miscued header that handed Kevin Lisbie Colchester's only goal, four minutes before half-time.

Shackell, like Otsemobor, has been left out of the side more than once since Roeder's arrival, and his error could have left him vulnerable again.

“The big disappointment is that we conceded, yet again, a weak goal,” said Roeder.

“The culprit, if you want, Shacks, was dreadfully disappointed at half-time and I just pulled him to one side and I said 'Look Shacks, you are now going to tell me how good you are by the way you play in the second half. Are you going to crumble or are you going to stand up to whatever they throw at you in the second half and play well after making a mistake like that?'

“I thought he had a flawless second half. He was very, very good and it was important for Shackell to come through that in the second half. It was important for me to see it as well because it was a real error that gave them an opportunity to score and he came out in the second half and, whatever Colchester threw his way, he dealt with it really well. So it's a pat on the back for him.”