The Bottom Line
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With Brighton, Bradford and Sheffield Wednesday all winning on Boxing Day, Town need to keep up the pace, therefore another win would be fantastic and possibly take us above Bradford before the New Year’s Day game with them on Wednesday.
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The Opposition - Any Good?
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The high-flying Canaries have continued the good form they showed at the end of last season in the first half of this. Currently, they lie in fifth place in the table. They have an array of both youth and experience. Providing the experiencing is the likes of former Oldham defender Craig Fleming who is a rock at the heart of the Anglia team’s defence. Up front of course is the well travelled Iwan Roberts who is joined by the up and coming Paul McVeigh who has bagged eleven goals this season and ex-Mariners striker David Nielsen (left).
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Recent Form
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Town | Norwich |
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L | Brighton | (h) | 0-1 |
W | Walsall | (h) | 2-1 |
L | Palace | (a) | 0-2 |
L | Wolves | (a) | 0-1 |
W | Derby | (h) | 1-0 |
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Players To Watch
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Town | Norwich |
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Darren Mansaram
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Paul McVeigh
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The livewire 18 year old striker has made his first appearances for the Mariners this season after impressing in the reserves last term. On Thursday he had perhaps his best game for the Mariners when he played up front on his own. A strong player with a sharp turn and pace, on his day he can be a real threat for any first division defender and the Mariners will be looking to him on Saturday for inspiration.
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Now a full Northern Ireland international, McVeigh has blossomed under the leadership of Nigel Worthington. He started last season merely as a squad player, but since has become an integral part of the Norwich side and scored 10 goals last season. This season he has bettered that already with 11 goals and is in fine form, making he and his dangerous left foot a problem for many first division sides.
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Top Scorers
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Town | Norwich |
Kabba 6
Pouton 4
Campbell 4
Oster 4
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McVeigh 11
Nielsen 6
Roberts 5
Mulryne 5
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Team News
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Town | Norwich |
After making some surprise changes for the game at Derby on Thursday, Paul Groves has said that once again he will change things around.
Certainly out will be Tony Gallimore and John McDermott who are still not fully fit, while Alan Pouton serves a one match ban, and is injured anyway which could mean he misses Wednesday’s game against Bradford.
This means that Stacy Coldicott, Darren Barnard and Steve Livingstone could all return. The most likely to start is Steve Livingstone who is expected to partner Darren Mansaram in a 4-4-2 formation.
Meanwhile Darren Barnard could be recalled in place of Steve Chettle who might find it hard going to play 2 games in three days, after being out for 3 months before Thursday.
Elsewhere, it is unlikely that Groves will tinker with the team much more, except that one of Gavin, Ward, Cooke or himself will have to be sacrificed in order to accommodate the return of Livingstone.
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The Canaries do have doubts over defender Darren Kenton, although it does seem that the young defender will be fit to play his second game in three days.
Still out is Steen Nedergaard who still has a calf injury. Ex Town keeper Paul Crichton has been struggling with injury of late and will probably miss out on a place on the bench.
Therefore, Norwich will remain unchanged from the side that lost to Brighton on Thursday.
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Probable Starting XI's
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Town | Norwich |
Danny Coyne |
Jason Gavin |
Simon Ford |
George Santos |
Darren Barnard |
Stuart Campbell |
Iain Ward |
Paul Groves |
John Oster |
Darren Mansaram |
Steve Livingstone |
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Robert Green |
Darren Kenton |
Malky Mackay |
Craig Fleming |
Adam Drury |
Mark Rivers |
Phil Mulryne |
Gary Holt |
Clint Easton |
Iwan Roberts |
Paul McVeigh |
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Subs
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Town | Norwich |
David Soames |
Terry Cooke |
Stacy Coldicott |
Steve Chettle |
Sean Allaway (GK) |
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David Nielsen |
Zema Abbey |
Darel Russell |
Ian Henderson |
Adam Lee-Barrett (GK) |
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Last Time Out
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It was, of course the opening day of the season when the two sides last met each other. It was a game to forget for the Mariners who went down to a 4-0 loss. The Norwich goals came from Paul McVeigh and Phillip Mulryne who bagged a brace each.
Town Team: Coyne, McDermott, Gallimore, Groves, Chettle (Ford), Coldicott, Pouton, Campbell (Barnard), Cooke, Livingstone, Robinson (Rowan).
Subs (not used): Raven and Hughes.
Attendance: 19,869 Report
Norwich Head-to-Head
(94th on The Opposition Ladder).
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Prediction
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Directions
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Click on the link for directions to Blundell Park (left).
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Admission Prices
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Click on the link for ticket prices to Blundell Park.
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