Blues had led through Seb Larsson's header, but less than a minute into the second half Darel Russell equalised for Norwich, and that was the way the game ended.
For Blues, Martin Taylor came back in for Stephen Kelly at the heart of defence (Kelly was absent from the bench again - for someone who never missed a minute of football last season, he's missed a lot of football this season - I'm not sure if he was injured, or if he's off somewhere else). Kemy Agustien kept his place alongside Lee Carsley in midfield, despite a (by all accounts) wretched debut at Southampton in the Carling Cup. On the flanks were Larsson and Quincy, with James McFadden and Kevin Phillips paired up front.
There's something I've always disliked about Norwich City - they're just too nice to be considered a proper football club. Plus Norwich is at the arse end of nowhere, and the motorway runs out 100 miles before you get there. The club though is run by a celebrity chef, and a female one at that. The fans' anthem is 'On The Ball City!', which includes reference to having "a little scrimmage" and "hurrah! we've scored a goal!". All the fans are just smiley and all the rest of it. You have a grudging respect for fans of the likes of Stoke, Hull, Burnley, etc who create an intimidating atmosphere and all the rest of it, but Norwich fans just smile politely and say "Well done, old chap". Following the 2002 play-off final, had Blues lost, Cardiff would probably have had to brace itself for a riot. Norwich fans just waved their yellow and green flags and commented on what a lovely day it had been. Yellow and green - they're not even proper colours. And they're nicknamed "The Canaries", for God's sake! Even at their local rivals Ipswich (who are about 45 miles away, so even that doesn't count), there can be a little bit of an atmosphere, on occasions. A trip to Portman Road is like a trip to Galatasaray, in comparison with a trip to Carrow Road, which is more like a trip to the Nature Centre, where you look at everything and say, "Awww... isn't that lovely??" I just don't think there's a place in the upper echelons on English football for nice clubs. I mean, any opposition club whose fans cheer Martin Taylor...
Their football has tended to mirror that too. In the early 1990s, when the rest of football was crap, Norwich somehow started to challenge for the title and things like that. Jeremy Goss scored a goal to beat Bayern Munich, and messrs Bowen, Culverhouse, Fleck and Gunn were household names. They've always played pretty, nice football, but it's always been fairly harmless. They were a bit like that against Blues. Plenty of possession, some neat touches, but never too threatening.
Don't get me wrong, Norwich did well, and Blues will probably be happy with their point, in hindsight. Norwich started as most teams will at home against Blues - at a high tempo, and forcing Blues onto the back foot. Blues had to deal with it at Southampton, and had to do so again here - and as I say, they'll have to do so probably another 21 times this season. Home teams, whoever they are, are always going to have a bit of pressure.
Norwich have some neat and tidy players in forward and wide positions, and so the likes of Arturo Lupoli, Wes Hoolahan and Matty Pattison (a good, young product of Newcastle's Academy) are always likely to cause you problems, and they did. Pattison showed up David Murphy's worrying inability to defend, and to get caught on his heels backtracking so that anyone with pace can "do him" down the outside, whilst Hoolahan terrorised Stuart Parnaby and drifted inside to link up with the forwards with great effect, illustrating why clubs like Atletico Madrid and Napoli were linked to him when he was at Livingston. It was all fairly toothless from Norwich though - a few crosses flew across the face of goal, and they won a few corners, but Maik Taylor wasn't really tested. In front of him, the defence looked dodgy, with the full-backs tested, as above, and Liam Ridgewell slicing clearances 30 foot in the air, but not away from danger, as only he can. Martin Taylor held it together a little bit, however.
The similarities to the Southampton league game continued as Norwich, 30 minutes in, began to run out of ideas a little, and Blues began to get a foothold in the game. There were a few nice moves from Blues, but the final ball was often just not quite there. Phillips couldn't really get into the game, and Quincy never really got much service.
Then, just like Southampton away (again), there was a goal from a set-piece, just before half-time. This time it went in Blues' favour, however. McFadden had cut in from the right and been pulled down towards the corner of the penalty area - a position that favoured his left foot. It was a bit of a tight angle to shoot, but McFadden drilled a cross/shot across the face of goal, and Larsson met it with his head at the near post to divert it into the corner. Blues went into half-time 1-0 up, but barely deserved it. It was cruel on Norwich.
Still, Blues being Blues, it didn't take Norwich long to get level. Marcus Bent replaced Quincy at half-time (again, not sure why, but I presume there was a knock), meaning McFadden moved wide left with Bent down the middle. Before Bent had had chance to touch the ball, however, Norwich had equalised. A Blues move broke down on the right, with Parnaby playing Agustien into trouble. He got caught out, Norwich broke and Russell scored.
This really opened the second half up, and it was pretty frantic and end-to-end, but again, there wasn't a host of chances. Agustien was eventually replaced by Gary McSheffrey, but he'll have been much happier with his league debut than his full debut in the cup. He didn't look fantastic, by any stretch, but he showed glimpses of being a good box-to-box midfielder. His first pass went astray, but within 30 seconds he'd won a proper tackle, got up and laid the ball off to a team-mate. He didn't look to have a "killer pass", but involed himself in play fairly well, got stuck in, and on two occasions made good runs in behind the forwards, but on one the ball never found him, and on the other he was harshly flagged offside. As I say, it was nothing sensational, but having heard reports of his Southampton display, I was concerned, and he looked ok.
The best two chances of the second half - until the last few minutes - were both off-target Norwich headers from Jamie Cureton and Dejan Stefanovic. Then, in the last five minutes, Blues really and truly should have won it.
Firstly, following a Blues corner, Bent superbly chested down for McSheffrey (though it seemed that a lot of the travelling support were loath to give Bent an ounce of credit for anything), and McSheffrey, who recently has displayed all the confidence of Paul Francis Gadd at a Vigilante Convention, managed to loop the ball over the bar from about five yards with just David Marshall to beat.
Then, moments later, Blues broke well and McSheffrey managed to do something well and teed up Phillips. I felt that he should have shot first time - we've all seen him do it - but he took a touch, and by that point Marshall had closed him down and saved well. Marshall, by the way, looked a top, top goalkeeper.
They were the best two chances of the game, in fairness, and Blues failed to take either of them. Had they done so, they'd have probably earned themselves three points that they didn't deserve, but that's what ruthless teams who win league titles do, and that has to be Blues' aim this season. How many times have we seen Manchester United struggle, but then just take one or two chances and win the game? Many, many times - quite a few against Blues.
Admittedly, I haven't seen a great deal of Blues so far this season (but that should change over the coming months), but having talked to and read things by people whose opinion I value, the worrying aspect so far will be that Blues haven't actually played well yet this season. There doesn't seem to have been a game where people came away saying "yeah, that was good - played well today". They're picking up points, sure, but the squad already looks a little stretched, and they won't keep getting lucky on the road - a team will start well, as Southampton and Norwich have, and will score two or three goals, and Blues won't be able to come back. Last season, despite relegation, there were signs of Blues playing good football. There've been glimpses this season (had a James McFadden reverse pass to David Murphy come off yesterday, he'd have probably scored and it would have capped a wonderful move), but they've been few and far between, and with the players that Blues have, I think everyone possibly expected a little more - not so much in terms of results (no one will seriously knock 10 points out of 12, including two tricky away games), but certainly in terms of performances.
Can do better.