CHRIS LAKEY Canaries boss Peter Grant saluted a match-winning performance by Dickson Etuhu as City shrugged off the cobwebs of their last away trip with a quality performance in a 2-1 win at the KC Stadium.

CHRIS LAKEY

Canaries boss Peter Grant saluted a match-winning performance by Dickson Etuhu as City shrugged off the cobwebs of their last away trip with a quality performance in a 2-1 win at the KC Stadium.

It was a costly win for Grant - although the £5 bet he lost when Etuhu scored the second goal is hardly going to break the bank.

"Unfortunately it cost me £5," laughed Grant. "I said it was about time he scored a goal and he said, 'I'm going to get one today, gaffer' - and I'm delighted at that.

"I think he has been excellent. I know a lot of people have questioned him - probably Luton away was his poorest game, but he has responded in the proper manner. He has come in and been a colossus with us.

"Dickson probably summed up the team's performance: he got box to box, he was getting blocks in at the edge of the box and then he was getting in the opposition box to score a goal, and that is what being a centre midfield player is all about."

It might be no coincidence that Etuhu was absent last week when City were awful at Colchester, yet when he reappears, City look like a different team - even though a late Hull goal meant for a nerve-wracking final few minutes.

However, Grant insisted on sharing the praise around after a win which always looked on the cards once Darren Huckerby had sneaked in front of Bo Myhill to turn in a dangerous Youssef Safri corner.

"It would be difficult to single anyone out," he said. "Last week we lost a goal and capitulated and I started today making sure it doesn't happen again. Today when it was a battle they battled and when they had to play they played.

"I think the one thing I questioned last week was the character, especially after the second half performance last week. To me it was massive today and it was big part of winning the game and I thought we should have won the game more convincingly.

"We showed great determination and great attitude and a lot of quality on a difficult pitch against a team that has been playing very, very well and getting fantastic results.

"I thought the goalkeeper and the back four were excellent with their defending, they did ever so well against tough opponents, but every time we had the ball I thought we were capable of scoring."

Huckerby had two goals disallowed - one for offside and one because Dion Dublin had committed a foul in the build-up while Lee Croft missed a first-half sitter, and if there was one criticism from Grant it was City's ability to squander chances.

"We felt we had a lot of chances and we weren't clinical enough," he said. "If we had been more clinical we could have won the game more convincingly, but typical the way the season has been going so far, we have to hang on at the end there. But I think it would have been a total injustice if we had lost any points from that game."

Not surprisingly, Hull boss Phil Brown saw things rather differently, claiming a Norwich player had admitted to Tigers striker Dean Windass that he had handled the ball during the late raids on Tony Warner's goal.

Grant's response was simple: "No penalties", although Brown admitted his team had been "turned over".

"I suppose when you have hit the post three times and had a stonewall, certain penalty turned down near the end, I suppose you could say at the end of the match we could have got a point, but it could have been out of sight by then," he said. "The lads showed tremendous fight and character coming back to 2-1, we just didn't score early enough. If that had come earlier, who knows, we could have got a point, we could have got three. But Norwich deserve credit, they came here and did a turn on us."