David Cuffley Gary Doherty was delighted to end his personal goal drought to keep Norwich City in the FA Cup - but felt his late equaliser shouldn't have been necessary.

David Cuffley

Gary Doherty was delighted to end his personal goal drought to keep Norwich City in the FA Cup - but felt his late equaliser shouldn't have been necessary.

Doherty's close-range finish against Bury, 10 minutes from time, was his first goal for the Canaries since September 2005 when he helped them to a 2-1 Championship home win over Hull. It was his first in 96 games.

This time he earned his side a 1-1 draw, a place in today's fourth round draw and a replay at Gigg Lane a week tomorrow.

But Doherty lamented City's failure to take a string of chances before and after he struck.

“We created a lot of chances - something we have been doing - but we've not been taking them. That's disappointing,” he said. “The only positive you can take is that we're still in the hat so we'll see who we get. I hope we get a good tie and go up to Bury and put it right.”

City scored five times in the first half-hour against Barnet in the Carling Cup back in August en route to a 5-2 win, and could have matched that tally by the time the Shakers left Carrow Road.

“We had Barnet here in the Carling Cup and we just blitzed them early on,” said Doherty. “That makes it a lot more comfortable but if you don't take your chances, they obviously grow in confidence. We've not been scoring many in the league either, so it's something we've got to put right.

“Bury set themselves up well defensively, they put in some fantastic blocks in and around the box, threw everything at the ball and made it hard for us. But if anyone saw the game and saw the amount of chances we created, good clear-cut chances, a lot of one-on-ones, it's disappointing to have to go to a replay.

“They stood strong and thoroughly deserved the replay, though it was probably more down to our bad finishing.

“That's football, I suppose.”

Doherty's lack of goals is a mystery to the man himself.

He said: “I'm just happy to get off the mark. It's been a long while. I've always had a good record scoring goals, more in the Premiership, so I'm finding it a bit harder in the Championship. I'm hoping that will kick start me now.”

Just before equalising, Doherty had a close-range shot blocked by the back of Bury's Steve Haslam.

“I just wanted to hit the target, so I got my head down and hit it as hard as I could and they made a fantastic block again.”