CHRIS LAKEY Peter Grant insists he has the potential in his attack to break Norwich City's scoring drought.The Canaries are suffering their worst form in front of goal for a decade, with nothing going in the opposition net for four league games - plus the Carling Cup tie at Manchester City.

CHRIS LAKEY

Peter Grant insists he has the potential in his attack to break Norwich City's scoring drought.

The Canaries are suffering their worst form in front of goal for a decade, with nothing going in the opposition net for four league games - plus the Carling Cup tie at Manchester City.

You have to go back to the last three matches of the 1996-97 season and the opening game of the following campaign to find the last time City were scoreless for four league games in a row. The last time it happened in a complete season was in 1994-95, when City were beaten by Leicester, Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and Spurs in a disastrous April which cost them their place in the Premiership.

In those days they were relying on Ashley Ward, Mark Robins and a certain Jamie Cureton to get the goals.

Cureton - top scorer in the Championship last season - is back now, but after a brace on his second debut, the Carling Cup win over Barnet, and another two on his second league debut, against Southampton, he has gone eight games without a goal.

The only other strikers to find the net in the league are Dion Dublin, last season's top Czech hitman David Strihavka and Simon Lappin - brining City to a grand total of five league goals in nine matches.

The closest City have come in recent games was Chris Martin's effort which hit an upright in the 0-0 draw with Scunthorpe on Tuesday.

But Grant insists that his strikers have it in them to break the duck - if the midfield can help by creating chances.

“We have the potential here, maybe it is in the central area of the pitch, maybe we haven't had the right balance,” he said. “Saying that, we are still creating chances at times in games and I think we should be more ruthless. I think we need to show a wee bit more devilment, but it is easy to be like that when you are fully confident.

“I understand that, the little bit of trepidation in things they have done - they have taken that extra touch when it's been easier to get a shot off.

“It is something we have to keep working at. I definitely feel we have potential here, goal scorers.”

Brown has been the usual choice to partner Cureton, and Grant believes the former Sunderland has goals in him, despite the lack of them in his 15 starts in Norwich colours.

“We have the guy (Cureton) who was top scorer in the Championship last year, you have the guy (Strihavka) who was top goal scorer in the Czech Republic last year,” he said. “We have Chris Martin here.

“Chris Brown is different in the respect that he is more of a setter-upper who will still get his 10 goals a season. But he has to understand that the players he plays with will always score more goals than him.

“He is not to get over-concerned with that because a big part of his game is making sure that he is creating chances with his physical presence and all these things around about him he is still creating chances for others. I can't ask him to work any harder.”