Quiet desperation

I think this might be it chaps. We had a jolly time up north before the game (and afterwards for that matter) but not long after we took our seats the grim reality was staring us in the face: there he was, lumbering about, Jason Shackell (still we can take some comfort from the fact that 6 months at Wolves haven't improved him at all). Then Mrs Wynn-Jones and her rather peculiar minder arrived to remind us that it doesn't really matter who the manager is, nothing will change at Norwich City.

On the field well, whilst we were nowhere near as bad at Preston as we were under Grant (despite the result) or when Worthington supervised the Doherty Shackell debacle, we never posed any threat at all, and since we don't do clean sheets nil one was probably the best we could hope for.

Crofty ran his heart out, and was covered in mud and there was an amusing moment midway through the second half when he stood next to the Emo whose kit remained in pristine condition. Which tells the tale of his afternoon. When Emo went off he was roundly booed and I was surprised to be told that it wasn't our lot but the Preston lot that were doing the booing.

Defensively we managed the almost impossible task of making Parkin and Brown look like Pele and Tostao. Grounds was solid apart from one almost catastrophic error. Shackell was, well, Shackell and needless to say that meant that last year's version of the Doc turned up. Otsemobor looks more of a liability every week. I don't know what has gone wrong but he did appear to have that strange bulge on his chest again.

In midfield Crofty put in loads of effort to really no effect. Fozzy put in a pretty solid shift and was probably the closest to scoring with that run and shot (but not very close). Wesley worked his socks off and looked like he might create something. So he was withdrawn. According to the stadium announcer Darrell Russell also played but I am unable to confirm that.

Up front I thought Corty did OK given that he had little service and he was on his own. The Emo put in one good corner early on but then spent the rest of his time mincing around. As for the subs Carney nominally replaced Wesley but actually took over mincing duties from the Emo. Jamie I think touched the ball once but that was to set up the goalmouth scramble so he also wins the "NCFC Most Effective Striker" contest. Chris Killen, as I understand it, comes from Celtic's third team, and looks like it.

You pay peanuts you get monkeys. Grant tried Scottish monkeys. Roeder tried loanee monkees. Gunny has cast his net wide and tried Scottish monkeys, loanee monkeys, and antipodean monkeys. But monkeys is monkeys. Even if Gunny pulls off a miracle this season, or if a couple of others take the 10-point hit and save us for now, this can only end one way.

At the Munby tried to shake my hand but I couldn't bring myself to do it which apparently upset him.

Posted By: Bryan Salad Surgery, Feb 14, 23:22:18