A cup game successfully negotiated then, and the manager's unbeaten record remains in tact. We'd been promised changes and indeed they came, though the reintroduction of Kluivert can hardly be considered as weakening the side. Things started well from the opening moments as Jenas apparently got a touch in the scramble to force the ball across the Norwich line which followed Robert's corner. Norwich never really threatened our switched around defence (complete with a very rare outing for the very capable Harper), and our attacking play was at times fluid, especially with the wide threat of Robert and Milner. A deserved second came from the felling of Ambrose in the opposition box. That gave Ameobi the chance of a confidence building shot from twelve yards (on the sort of form he was showing Kluivert certainly needs no boost to confidence). The striker cooly slotted the penalty home and all looked well going into half time.
The second half didn't really live up to the first. Ameobi evened up his penalty score by lumbering into Svensson which gave ex-mag Huckerby the opportunity to pull one back, despite Harper guessing the right way. That brought back memories of the recent league encounter, but to be fair there was never the determination from Norwich that there had been in that game. They never really looked like they would complete the come back, although we never really got round to putting together something to finish the tie off either.
All in all a fairly straight forward progression through to the next round then. It's widely known as the tin pot cup but it is a trophy, something we have distinctly lacked. The draw isn't too kind though, pairing us at home to Chelsea, one of the very few teams who can field a weakened side in the competition and still look very dangerous. If we can get through that though, who knows?
(@16:10)
