Elliott Bennett produced an excellent display as a makeshift right-back against Bolton on Saturday. Picture: Paul Chesterton / Focus Images

Saturday’s win over Bolton must go down as Norwich City’s most impressive result of the season.

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To anyone who wasn’t at the game a 2-0 home victory over a side struggling towards the bottom of the Premier League will have seemed as routine as top flight football ever gets but I suppose you had to be there.

As well as the Canaries have performed this season there were fans who had a few jitters on Saturday morning. Norwich’s 3-0 defeat at Sunderland three days earlier coupled with Bolton’s recent upturn in results and the thought of Premier League trips to Swansea and Stoke on the horizon with the small matter of Manchester United at home in between had supporters of a nervous disposition fearing the sort of slump that certain neighsayers have been telling us we’re bound to have all season.

The main crux of that particular argument seems to be that it happened to Blackpool last season and so is bound to happen to Norwich. It’s not one that I have ever given particular credence to because it assumes that all football seasons are exactly the same which they aren’t. Unless you’re talking about the Scottish Premier League.

When Dani Ayala and then Zak Whitbread hobbled down the tunnel more fans started to shuffle awkwardly in their seats, partly to keep warm, but mainly because it wasn’t even half-time and Paul Lambert had been left with three square pegs to fill the four defensive round holes. Adam Drury was the only round one left, if you see what I mean.

Faced with those circumstances Lambert must have been wondering whether he’d accidentally walked under a ladder on the way to the ground on Saturday. I can never remember whether it is supposed to be lucky or unlucky to have a black cat cross your path but given that Sunderland’s nickname is now The Black Cats the Frank Spencer-esque run of bad fortune that Norwich were suddenly enduring so soon after playing them suggested it’s probably the latter.

Paul Lambert’s Norwich City seem to be at their best when the odds appear stacked against them. A rip-roaring display against a beleaguered Bolton saw them run out worthy winners and in truth it was more comfortable than the 2-0 scoreline would have you believe.

The City boss described it as the best win of his reign in his 
post-match interview and while it may not live as long in the memory as a 5-1 or 4-1 against Ipswich it was almost as satisfying.

When Norwich nipped in moments before the transfer window closed last week to sign Ryan Bennett from Peterborough my first thought was of the commentator’s nightmare that could lay ahead if he is named in the same team as Elliott Bennett. After Saturday’s excellent display in the unfamiliar position of right-back as part of that hastily redesigned defence there now might be a chance that both Bennetts could feature as part of the same defence before too long.

I’ll just have to hope that Leon Barnett doesn’t play as well.

Elliott Bennett’s performance wasn’t the only surprise cameo at Carrow Road at the weekend.

For the first time in 25 years of regularly going to Norwich City home games, I got a touch of the match ball. A first-half hoof into the stands was neatly tipped into the BBC Radio Norfolk commentary box by one of the fans sitting nearby. I would love to claim that I influenced the result against Bolton in some tiny way but given that my throw back came in a different half of the match to the two Norwich goals I haven’t got the neck to claim an assist.

• MILK OF HUMAN KINDNESS RUNS OUT IN SUNDERLAND

Norwich’s defeat to Sunderland last week was not one to dwell on, especially after the fine performance against Bolton, but it was an evening when the Canaries missed out on the chance to lift some silverware.

The Friendly Trophy was in the press room at the Stadium of Light before the game and has traditionally been held by whichever team wins when Norwich and Sunderland meet in recognition of the tremendous spirit the 1985 League Cup final between the two sides was played in.

Explaining the concept to those not immersed in the history of either club does lead to some puzzled looks but you have to remember the problems football was having in the mid-1980’s to appreciate why two sets of fans getting on so well with each other on such a big occasion was something worth marking.

It is a bit quirky and I’m not sure there is even an official presentation of the Friendly Trophy any more. As far as I can tell the bowl mounted on a bit of wood travels to the game in the boot of the car belonging to the press officer of whichever club holds it. There certainly won’t be an open top bus tour in the north east to mark them wrestling it back from the Carrow Road trophy cabinet.

It may be a tradition which will eventually die out. Some of the friendliness between the two clubs appears to have diminished. I found some of the staff at Sunderland very standoffish when I was having a pre-match cup of coffee. I’m not sure what their problem was, I only asked them to pass the milk cup.