Spud Thornhill: Half a century of wins, and another new ground ticked off

Emi Buendia - temperamental and brilliant Picture: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd (Image: Paul Chesterton)

It won't go down as big as either of our two Wembley wins or the thrilling 3-2 win over Derby County, but it may go down as an important result if we are go on to produce the great escape and stay up.

It was nice, finally, to leave Carrow Road without feeling gutted after another loss or having the frustration of another shocking VAR decision go against us. Whilst I was little bit gutted that we never got that all-important second goal, it was great to finally see a home clean sheet - something Tim Krul has deserved.

I was soon brought back down to earth on Wednesday, with a visit to Tottenham Hotspur's new stadium - not because of the stadium itself, but because of yet another defeat on the road. Myself and 3,000 fellow Canaries travelled to London with more hope than expectation considering our away form this season.

I'm sure many fans, like myself, were desperate to go to this game so we could tick off a new ground. It did put me back on the magical 92 - or should I say 91 following the demise of Bury last August? People who know me know football grounds are bit of an obsession with me. Tottenham was my 135th Football League ground and 136th ground I've seen Norwich play at.

Despite how much I was in awe of the new ground, once the game kicked off I could've been anywhere watching Norwich. Old grounds like Southampton's previous home at The Dell or smaller grounds like Paulton Rovers' Athletic Field, they are all the same when Norwich are playing. I was hoping for a win for my beloved Canaries and thought we stood a chance when we were awarded a penalty - our first away penalty in the Premier League since September 1994. Just the 126 games ago.

But yet again it was a case of what if. I'm starting to get fed up with neutral fans and fans of other clubs who have just got a result against us, saying how well we played and how we deserved something out of the game.

A little part of me says I don't care if we get an ugly win. But a big part of me says I don't want us to change our ways and ethos at the club. I keep thinking back to our first season under Daniel Farke. We struggled and were not scoring the goals. It feels like a case of déjà vu.

One player we missed at Spurs was Emi Buendia. I'm not going to go all stats crazy with Emi as I'm sure you've all seen every stat that has shown his quality. The only thing missing is a Premier League goal.

I've heard or read so many times this season people criticising his temperament. However much I hate to see him throwing a tantrum that I would expect from my two-year-old daughter, it comes with the package with Emi. Take away that temperament and you lose a little bit from his game, you lose his passion.

Who thought after Wes Hoolahan left us in 2017 that we would have a player who could produce even more magic on the pitch? Well, maybe, just maybe we may have one in Emi. Out of all the players I fear we may lose in the summer, Emi is the one.

We may not have Emi for our trip to Turf Moor. Fit or not fit, however much I want a good cup run, I would rather have Emi totally fit for our trip to Newcastle. Let Emi do his magic next week.

When the draw was made for this trip up north, I am sure unless you live closer to Burnley than you do to Norwich, you gave out a big sigh like I did. But let's hope we can put another positive performance in like we did in the previous round at Preston.