Jim Duffy is refusing to contemplate what could be Norwich City's worst position in recent years - bottom place in the second tier of English football.

By CHRIS LAKEY

Jim Duffy is refusing to contemplate what could be Norwich City's worst position in recent years - bottom place in the second tier of English football.

Defeat at Burnley tonight coupled with a QPR victory 20 miles west at Preston would send the Canaries bottom. A point for QPR could be enough for them to move off the bottom, should City be on the wrong end of a heavy defeat at Turf Moor.

And recent form doesn't bode well for City:

(.) QPR have taken five points from their last five games while City have taken just one

(.) Darren Huckerby's goal against Bristol City on Saturday was their first in 636 minutes of football

(.) In their last nine games, City have won one, drawn one and lost seven.

(.) After tonight City face fifth-placed West Brom away then leaders Watford and old rivals Ipswich at Carrow Road.

It makes for difficult reading for City supporters, who are now anxiously awaiting news of who will replace Peter Grant, who left the managerial hot-seat last week.

Duffy is in charge for now, but while the figures speak for themselves, the Scot was in no mood to discuss them yesterday.

“There's a Scottish character called the Reverend IM Jolly,” he said. “And if you want to be the Reverend IM Jolly you can be so, but I am only looking at the game tomorrow night.

“It's for you guys to write about what might be and what might not be. For me it's only looking at one match.

“You can manufacture stats any way. If we win the next two games you could say we could be six or 10 places above.

“It just depends whether the bottle's half full or half empty - I'm a Scotsman, the bottle's always half full.”

Duffy has thrown his hat into the ring of fire for the manager's job and will be hoping the players help his CV with a win tonight after the disappointment of Saturday's 3-1 defeat .

“You can only look at match ahead,” he said. “Of course after the match there was disappointment because we lost two late goals and of course there's that continuing disappointment if you don't get results.

“That's evident with the players and you can see that with their demeanour. That's normal - you don't expect players, and you don't want players, to come in singing and dancing if you lose.

“But we will look forward again and try to get some smiles back on their faces again and we'll be as positive as we can be. That's the way you've got to approach it. You don't shy away from anything.

“We know the performances have to improve and the results have to improve. I think performance did improve on Saturday and we need to continue that and add to it. That's the objective for the game against Burnley. We know it's a tough match but you can say that about every match whether it's home or away.”