Club skipper Craig Fleming wasn't a man for too many words after Saturday's wretched no-show at Crystal Palace. In fact, three sufficed.“We were awful,” said Fleming, after Norwich's play-off prospects ended with a 4-1 humbling at the hands of a rampant Eagles side.

Club skipper Craig Fleming wasn't a man for too many words after Saturday's wretched no-show at Crystal Palace.

In fact, three sufficed.

“We were awful,” said Fleming, after Norwich's play-off prospects ended with a 4-1 humbling at the hands of a rampant Eagles side.

As good as the likes of England World Cup prospect Andrew Johnson and Palace's home-grown playmaker Ben Watson were, City were still utterly woeful as they never, ever really got to grips with the Eagles' midfield and were duly cut to ribbons at the back.

Given the fact that City's long-suffering away fans had to pay £30 each for the privilege of watching Johnson run riot, many might have actually fancied a six-hour stop at Birchanger Services as a gas tanker fire closed the M11 and caused chaos en route.

“What more can I say?” said Fleming. “We were rubbish.”

No doubt plenty more will be said at Thursday night's public meeting, but Fleming was swift to accept that the players had much to answer for as the pressure continued to mount on manager Nigel Worthington.

“It doesn't help when you concede a goal early on at a place like that,” said Fleming, after Johnson left Zesh Rehman horribly trailing as he drilled home a seventh-minute opener.

“And, yes, Johnson played well. Watson played well. But that's no excuse. On a day like that we, as players, let the manager down, let the supporters down and let the club down. That's it, basically.”

Worthington himself also opted to say very little to his players in the immediate aftermath of Saturday's latest away-day horror show.

“I think they know how I feel,” said Worthington, with the players' midweek day off biting the dust on the back of their weekend efforts. “You can rant and rave all you want - sometimes silence is better.”

In front of the Press, Worthington made his disappointment plain.

“We have had a good little run in the last few games, but all that has just gone out of the window,” he said.

“Palace were bright, they were lively and they worked hard - and what you don't need when you come up against that is a no-show.

“It is very frustrating because against Derby I thought we played like the Norwich of old. Today we gave the ball away far too often and we were second best on too many occasions.

“We were less than average, to be fair. We didn't pass the ball, we didn't work hard enough and it was hugely disappointing and frustrating.”