Iwan Roberts on the Norwich v Ipswich derby, Jon Rowe, top six

Deep down, I thought Norwich would get beaten, even though they're in decent form. Ipswich had had two tough away games but they breezed through them really. I feared the worst.

I've seen them a couple of times and I've been so impressed. They score plenty of goals – they had eight consecutive wins at Portman Road. Their fans have been talking about this game for months, since the fixtures came out in mid-June. It was like D-Day for them. They were desperate for it.

It was a pleasant surprise. I think it was a fantastic point for the club - fortunate, I think. Before Broadhead scored the first Norwich could have been 3-0 down. But you know what, I saw those chances being missed and even at that early stage, they are chances that they would normally put in.

They are top scorers in the division and I’m thinking, ‘they're missing gilt-edged chances’ and as a player you’re thinking ‘could this be our day?’. You usually get that later on in the game with maybe 10 minutes to go when you've been battered and they’re missing chance after chance after chance. Wes Burns missed a really good chance and I got the feeling then that this could this could be Norwich’s day.

Derby day hero Jonathan Rowe (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

Jonny Rowe – a part of me wanted to kick his bottom last week because he came out on social media and said ‘bring it on’ and I'm like, Jonny, what you doing? But fair play to the young lad. It's not something that I would do because I don't think I would have had the self-confidence to do that. It's something that Craig Bellamy would have done. Fair play to Rowe, because that brings added pressure to you as an individual. You can't go down there and hide - not that you would hide - but perform badly. You have got to perform – and boy, did he perform.

His technique and agility for the first goal - he probably missed the better chance to put it in, but somehow he sort of got onto his feet, he’s falling backwards, he's made good contact. He just keeps getting better and better. He’s had a great first half of the season anyway, and even though there's one game to go before the halfway point of the season, what a way to end it by getting two goals down there to win a point.

It's his first full season - you're looking at if he carries on and stays injury-free, 20, 25 goals. And from someone who's not a centre forward – if you have got a winger who’s scoring that amount of goals they go for a lot of money – not that Norwich want to lose him.

His second goal, I think he took it ever so well. I was always taught go for the keeper’s legs because keepers always have their legs open. Get the ball as close to the goalkeeper's feet as you can because it's impossible for them to get down.

I can understand the celebrations at the end – you have Ipswich fans saying that they were celebrating as if they won the game. But it felt like a win – it was a fantastic point. I heard Kieran McKenna’s post-match interview. He’s new to the East Anglian derby, but he knows what it means. I think it was a frustrated, cheap dig with what he said ‘they’re still 21 points behind us’ and I’m like, ‘yeh, but you thought you were going to win this one comfortably’.

I think they got the feeling that this was 14 years of hurt coming to an end - a lot of Norwich fans said it was the best team they've had for a long time. They're riding the crest of a wave, they’d won promotion, second in the league, scoring plenty of goals. But I have always said their Achilles heel, the one thing against them, is that they concede too many goals.

Top six?

Can David Wagner turn City into top-six material? (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

I don't see why Norwich can’t still be play-off challengers, why not? It starts with Huddersfield this weekend. I look at their manager, Darren Moore - he's only won two of his 15 games. I've know a lot of Huddersfield from my three and a half years up there and they've not taken to him at all. To be fair they have drawn eight of this 15 games so it's not as if they've been getting beaten every week. But they have got a centre forward. They just can't put the ball in the back of the net.

I think Huddersfield has to be a home banker – they have one win in 10, two wins in 16.

Then it’s two away games - West Brom on Boxing Day and Millwall on the Friday night. If you can get seven points from the three games, two wins and a draw, then I think that's a great Christmas.

Then you are going into January when they will have Josh Sargent back, Grant Hanley and maybe he will be allowed to bring a couple in, we'll have to wait and see.

I'd expect three points from Huddersfield. I think Carrow Road after last Saturday will be buzzing, there will be a good atmosphere there and maybe, slowly but surely, he is starting to win some of the doubters around, and the only way you can do it is by picking points up – keep doing that and the top six isn't out of the question. There are 24 games to go so there's plenty of points to play for.

Jonny, be good

There will be clubs looking at Jonny Rowe, without doubt.

He’s still only 20. He's an English under 21 international, this is his first season and he has 10 league goals. He’s City’s top scorer and he is joint third top scorer in the Championship.

January is fast approaching, can City keep hold of the gems they have got?

They’ve said they don’t have to sell and I hope that’s the case, because you've got to help your manager. I'm not being funny, but his value is not going to go down. At the minute his value is only going to go up. If he has a second-half of the season like he's had the first half of the season it's going to go up a hell of a lot. You have to pay a premium for English players anyway. And he is a wide player scoring goals.

Let's be realistic - if he carries on developing and performing like he is, he is going to go. If Norwich can get back in the Premier League, I still think he goes.

Obviously he's an ambitious boy as well.

The record is Emi Buendia to Villa for £35m – if Rowe carries on, you are talking that sort of money.

An old chestnut...

City have four games over the festive season. There will be those who say it is too much. Get on with it!

If I'm being totally honest I don't sympathise, as an ex-player. We've all done it, we've all sacrificed things. We've all been in training on Christmas Day, the times I travelled away on Christmas afternoon after training at Colney to stay in a hotel on Christmas night – it is part and parcel of the game.  

You know it’s a busy time, you know it's a vital time. I remember when I was playing for Leicester, we played Watford at home on the Boxing Day and then on the 28th we had Derby away, so two games in three days. It’s hard - back then we didn’t have anywhere near the sort of facilities and the recovery help that they've got now. You might get a massage if you're lucky, then you get back out there.

I think people look for excuses and if you give players excuses, they'll use them, but as a former player who played for 20 years over Christmas – just get on with it.

Coup-er time

Steve Cooper (Image: PA Images)

Sad to see Steve Cooper leave Nottingham Forest - I've got a lot of time for the man. I saw a lot of him when he was at Swansea. He won the World Cup with England Under 17s and there are a lot of players who are now playing at the top level who worked with Steve in that England squad. He's a magnificent organiser. I wouldn't say his teams play like Man City or Southampton or Leicester, who are possession-obsessed, but he's a really good coach.

He won't be long out of job and I think it will be in the Premier League. I think he is made for Crystal Palace – and I know Roy Hodgson is there – but he’s got Crystal Palace all over him. He was linked with Palace before Patrick Vieira took over.

I can understand it to a degree - one win in 14 - especially when you’ve got a trigger happy owner. But I think he deserves a bit more time – they are still five points clear of the relegation zone.

He would be a hell of a coup for a Championship club.