Manager Glenn Roeder admitted his City team had taken one step forward, then two back with last night's 2-1 home defeat by Crystal Palace. The Canaries head for Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday in 19th place in the Championship after letting down another 24,000-plus crowd at Carrow Road, who had been hoping for better things after Saturday's victory at Nottingham Forest.

Manager Glenn Roeder admitted his City team had taken one step forward, then two back with last night's 2-1 home defeat by Crystal Palace.

The Canaries head for Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday in 19th place in the Championship after letting down another 24,000-plus crowd at Carrow Road, who had been hoping for better things after Saturday's victory at Nottingham Forest.

"We were absolutely fantastic on Saturday but tonight it was a tale of two halves," said Roeder.

"They were two absolutely shocking goals to concede, but I have to say no one will change my opinion that Palace did not deserve to be two up. I thought they were very fortunate to be two up. It was about us shooting ourselves in the head, to be honest - two absolutely woeful goals."

Craig Beattie scored a controversial opener for Palace after 27 minutes as the home defence froze, expecting an offside flag. John Oster scored the second five minutes before the break with a delicate chip.

Said Roeder: "We didn't get any help from the referee's assistant on the first one. I've seen it now. It was probably a closer call than I first thought but he was a yard offside and the referee's assistant didn't give us the flag to stop the play like he should have done.

"Jon Otsemobor is slightly behind the other three, but the player is offside.

"As always, goals change games. There wasn't anything in it until then. They hadn't given us any problems of any consequence. I thought we were slightly the better team. But the second goal was absolutely ridiculous. We lost easy possession in the centre of midfield and the ball ended up going in the back of the net."