Football: Power surges for Norwich

Norwich City. .4

Crystal Palace. 2

TO THE HUGE relief of themselves and their supporters, Norwich last night rediscovered their form and the route to goal in a thrilling exhibition of attacking football, to which Palace contributed in full.

Victory, their first in seven Premier League attempts, keeps the Canaries third, two points off the pace, while a third successive defeat for the visitors means relegation concerns will continue to overshadow their preparations for their Coca-Cola Cup semi-final with Arsenal a week on Sunday.

Gone was the sterility and laboured approach of recent weeks as Norwich recovered from the jolt of an early reverse to slip in to that smooth, easy groove once more, while in the recalled Lee Power, the scorer of two splendid goals, they had a striker eager to make his mark.

Mike Walker, the Norfolk side's manager, was left hoping that Sunday's FA Cup defeat by Tottenham would prove a 'blessing in disguise' if this result helps to put their challenge for the Premier League firmly back on track.

'We had a few strong words after that because the second-half performance was an absolute shambles,' he said. 'Tonight the commitment was there again, and it was nice to see the goals go in.'

However, Norwich carried the hangover of their Cup defeat into the opening minutes, with Chris Coleman allowed all the time and space he required to set up Chris Armstrong. The hosts had to get back in the game quickly, and did so after only nine minutes. Power was fouled and was then perfectly in position to take advantage when the free-kick was headed on by David Phillips, his emphatic volley giving Nigel Martyn no chance.

The pattern was well and truly established, there be no let-up in the goalmouth activity. Norwich went in front through a Chris Sutton header but were then denied an interval lead when Bryan Gunn spoiled his efforts in saving well from Coleman and Simon Rodger by losing out to Geoff Thomas as they challenged for a high ball.

Palace had no reply, though, when Norwich came up with two brilliant second-half efforts. In the 51st minute Jeremy Goss climaxed a sparkling four-man invention to ram home the third while, in the final seconds, Power brought all his pace to bear before toe-poking home another Phillips pass. Powerful stuff indeed.

Norwich City: Gunn; Culverhouse, Bowen, Butterworth, Polston, Megson, Goss, Power, Sutton, Fox, Phillips. Substitutes not used: Robins, Woodthorpe, Walton (gk).

Crystal Palace: Martyn; Humphrey (Ndah, 76), Shaw, Coleman, Sinnott, Thorn, Osborn, Thomas, Armstrong, Rodger, McGoldrick. Substitutes not used: Bowry, Woodman (gk).

Referee: V Callow (Solihull).