Norwich City Season 2 Part 3
One signing arrived in the January window, Tomas Galasek from Ajax for £140k, at 32 he's not a long-term option but Gary Holt has struggled with the step-up to the Premier Division and didn't take kindly to me criticising his performances. Galasek shows his quality by setting up Dimitar Berbatov to score a 90th minute winner against Spurs. It moves us up to 37 points with 10 games remaining.
After a three week break between matches we come back rusty losing to Fulham and Newcastle, the latter thrash us 5-0. We bounce back in style by beating Liverpool with Darren Huckerby starring although he would have a hat-trick if he could finish.
In the last part of this story I described losing to Rushden & Diamonds in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup was the low point of the season, well they've only gone and reached the FA Cup Final by beating Premier Division leaders Chelsea. Not such a bad defeat after all.
Having passed 40 points, the closing stages of the season are fairly anti-climactic; the limited highlights are a win against Middlesbrough where we fall behind before scoring 3 and a Phil Mulryne 30-yard free-kick at Old Trafford in defeat.
We face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the final game of the season, with them requiring a win to secure the title ahead of Man Utd. United score after 3 minutes but there’s little chance for title drama to grow as we are completely overwhelmed and trail 3-0 by half-time, Wayne Bridge gets a brace of headers (did he even ever go up for corners?) in a 5-1 defeat. Zema Abbey scoring a consolation to reach 10 league goals for the season and United not winning the title are the small bright spots of a chastening afternoon which highlights how far we still need to improve.
For a second season Abbey was the stand out performer, incredibly getting 91% of his shots on target, and our worst form coincided with his injury as Berbatov proved a poor understudy. The new signings Danny Mills and Marco Zanchi did fairly well with big Malky Mackay proving the weak link in defence. Huckerby had some outstanding games but they were few and far between, although he did replace Alex Notman as Abbey’s main partner. January signing Galasek spent more time injured than on the pitch so central midfield along with the right midfield look areas to focus on for new signings as Lionel Morgan and Damien Francis continue to play well.
The season ends with Rushden & Diamonds beating Man City on penalties in the FA Cup Final. Chelsea add the Champions League to the League title by dominating Juventus in that final but they couldn't overcome the Diamonds in the FA Cup semi-final, it's a funny ol' game.
After a three week break between matches we come back rusty losing to Fulham and Newcastle, the latter thrash us 5-0. We bounce back in style by beating Liverpool with Darren Huckerby starring although he would have a hat-trick if he could finish.
In the last part of this story I described losing to Rushden & Diamonds in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup was the low point of the season, well they've only gone and reached the FA Cup Final by beating Premier Division leaders Chelsea. Not such a bad defeat after all.
Having passed 40 points, the closing stages of the season are fairly anti-climactic; the limited highlights are a win against Middlesbrough where we fall behind before scoring 3 and a Phil Mulryne 30-yard free-kick at Old Trafford in defeat.
We face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the final game of the season, with them requiring a win to secure the title ahead of Man Utd. United score after 3 minutes but there’s little chance for title drama to grow as we are completely overwhelmed and trail 3-0 by half-time, Wayne Bridge gets a brace of headers (did he even ever go up for corners?) in a 5-1 defeat. Zema Abbey scoring a consolation to reach 10 league goals for the season and United not winning the title are the small bright spots of a chastening afternoon which highlights how far we still need to improve.
For a second season Abbey was the stand out performer, incredibly getting 91% of his shots on target, and our worst form coincided with his injury as Berbatov proved a poor understudy. The new signings Danny Mills and Marco Zanchi did fairly well with big Malky Mackay proving the weak link in defence. Huckerby had some outstanding games but they were few and far between, although he did replace Alex Notman as Abbey’s main partner. January signing Galasek spent more time injured than on the pitch so central midfield along with the right midfield look areas to focus on for new signings as Lionel Morgan and Damien Francis continue to play well.
The season ends with Rushden & Diamonds beating Man City on penalties in the FA Cup Final. Chelsea add the Champions League to the League title by dominating Juventus in that final but they couldn't overcome the Diamonds in the FA Cup semi-final, it's a funny ol' game.
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