I could sense the disappointment from some Norwich supporters after their draw up at Ewood Park and I understand the frustration.
If I’m honest, Blackburn were in shocking form, they’d won 10 points from their previous 15 Championship games.
Norwich, on the other hand, had lost one of their last nine league games (at Leeds), they had won 16 points from their last seven games. This looked like an away banker if ever I've seen one.
Sadly, that's not how football works, especially in the Championship.
Look at Russell Martin's Southampton, who went 25 games unbeaten then lost to fourth from bottom Millwall last weekend although, granted, their unbeaten run had gone before the Millwall defeat.
Top-of-the-table Leicester have been outstanding this season yet Middlesbrough, who currently sit 13th, have done the double over them. That's life in this league - it's so unpredictable. I did play in it for 15 years so I’ve first hand experience of what it can be like.
Newcastle travelled to Ewood Park on Tuesday night and couldn’t beat Blackburn in 120 minutes of football. Blackburn might not be pretty on the eye under John Eustace but they are certainly hard to beat in his first five games in charge. Only his previous club Birmingham have managed to beat them in five games, they’ve drawn the other four but obviously Newcastle beat them on penalties.
So Norwich take the point and move on. They are the team that's hitting form at just the right time in the race for fifth and sixth spot in the Championship. They are playing as well as anyone and are in as good a form as any club from West Brom in fifth down to tomorrow's visitors to Carrow Road, Sunderland. I look at Watford, Bristol City, Middlesbrough and Cardiff, all on 44 points, and they’ve got too much to do in my opinion.
With 12 games to go Norwich’s run-in isn’t too bad. There’s two stand-out games, Leicester away and, of course, at home against Ipswich. There are a couple of tricky away trips to Deepdale and The Riverside, especially when away form has been Norwich’s Achilles heel this season. Three away wins in the last 15 games is very poor and needs to improve in the last six on the road.
Since the end of November home form has been magnificent, amassing a fantastic 23 points from a possible 27. The lads have won six of their last seven games at Carrow Road and home form is going to be key if Norwich are to finish in the top six.
It’s been a tough few weeks for tomorrow's visitors. They sacked Michael Beale after he won just four of his 12 games in charge after taking over from Tony Mowbray. They’ve lost their last three games, all against relegation threatened teams and have been as bad as Norwich have been away from home with just one win in their last 12 games. They haven’t scored more than one goal in an away game since they scored three at Hillsborough at the end of September.
A word of caution, the Black Cats have enjoyed their last three visits to the fine city, winning all three and scoring seven goals while doing so. It has not been the kindest fixture for Norwich in recent years with just one win in six against Sunderland.
Hopefully there are no new injury concerns for David Wagner and Grant Hanley is ok after being substituted late on at Ewood Park. His influence on the pitch is going to be huge in this run-in and if the lads can reproduce the type of performance I witnessed last time round at Carrow Road I can only see a home banker!
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