Norwich City boss Paul Lambert hailed his players' “brilliant” performance after they crushed his former club, Colchester, 5-0 on their own ground to avenge the 7-1 home defeat they suffered on the opening day of the season.

Norwich City boss Paul Lambert hailed his players' “brilliant” performance after they crushed his former club, Colchester, 5-0 on their own ground to avenge the 7-1 home defeat they suffered on the opening day of the season.

The Canaries cut Leeds United's lead at the top of League One to three points with victory at a boggy Weston Homes Community Stadium.

Leeds were beaten 2-0 at Exeter, though they still have one game in hand on City.

Chris Martin (2), Gary Doherty, substitute Oli Johnson and skipper Grant Holt were the scorers, while Wes Hoolahan missed a penalty with the score at 3-0.

“The lads were brilliant, they really were, considering everything that's gone on and all the things that have been said,” said Lambert.

“I thought the lads kept their heads, kept the game going and we were worthy winners.

“The lads at Norwich were beaten heavily at the beginning of the season and I'm pretty sure for some of them it was at their back of their minds but they never ever showed it.

“We came here to try and win another three points, which we've done. I said to the lads you've got to change our game for certain conditions but I thought some of the football we played in really bad conditions was exceptional.

“We had 2,000 here today and we could have had a lot more, as I've said before they have been fantastic for us this season following us everywhere in their droves.

“I'm pretty sure that today was sweet for them after what happened on the opening day of the season.

“We will do everything we can to try and go up this season, but for this moment in time I hope we gave them something to feel happy about today.”

Colchester manager Adrian Boothroyd said: “The bottom line is that we gave away four daft goals and you can't do that against a team that has one of the best goalscoring records in the league.

“We didn't take our chances when we had our dominance in the first half and if you make silly errors, this is what happens.

“I'm disappointed for the people who turned up.

“We had a really good crowd and there's been a lot of hype around it but in the second half, we got what we deserved.”