RICK WAGHORN City boss Nigel Worthington simply admitted what many - be they at a dank and drizzly Burnley or sat in front of their TVs at home - had long suspected.

RICK WAGHORN

City boss Nigel Worthington simply admitted what many - be they at a dank and drizzly Burnley or sat in front of their TVs at home - had long suspected. The Canaries simply don't deserve a top six finish.

To do that you have to hit a consistent level of form Reading style.

Norwich have never managed to achieve that in a season of many trials and endless tribulations.

Last night's 2-0 defeat at Burnley was merely another to add to the collection as the Championship's supposed form side with 13 points from the last 18 managed to trip up over the team propping up the same form table having lost their last six games

To add to everyone's utter frustration the game could - and should - have been over within the first 12 minutes.

“If you play like that you don't deserve to be in the play-offs - it's as simple and straightforward as that,” said Worthington after watching his side's brittle confidence collapse once again after Burnley finally ended their five-game goal drought with Andy Gray's 18th-minute opener.

Coupled to a freak arm injury to Adam Drury, which saw City revert back to an overly open 4-4-2 formation after flying into the game with a Leeds-style 4-5-1 pattern of play, Norwich's game gradually descended to Crystal Palace-like proportions with Graham Branch's second-half strike merely confirming that City's hopes of a last-gasp surge into the top six were over.

“There are three things we've got to do,” said Worhtington. “We've got to take our chances; we've got to pass the ball better and we've got to have that consistency.

“That's been our Achilles heel this season. We get two or three good performances and then you get one of these thrown in.”

The fact that Norwich had one off the line, one against the bar and one golden one-on-one as they ran riot in the game's opening 15 minutes merely added to the overall tale of woe.

As ever this season it was a story of what might have been rather than what was.

“For the first 15 or 20 minutes I thought we started very, very well,” said Worthington, with the hapless Clarets demonstrating just why they'd been without either a point or a goal for the last month.

“We had three or four great chances and you've got to take one of those.

“We've not taken them and sure enough the first real attack that they've had they've gone and scored a goal.

“I thought their second goal knocked the stuffing out of the players a bit and our passing was very, very slack. We've shown our mettle against Sheffield United and Leeds and then we've thrown in one of these. It's very disappointing and I'll be looking for a big response at home to Leicester next Saturday.”

To add to a classic night for those long-suffering City away fans, Drury's injury appears to be more complicated than most although hopefully a trip to hospital today will explain why the Cty full-back's left arm remained locked in a right angle after his accidental clash with Jason Shackell midway through the first half.

“It looks a bit of a nasty one,” said Worthington. “it looks as if it might be something with the elbow. But Adam will have an X-ray on it today and we'll know more about it after that.”