Alex Neil is under no illusions it will take more than Norwich City's winning start to 2017 to turn the tide of public opinion.

The Canaries' chief and his squad have come in for heavy flak during a prolonged Championship downturn but an emphatic 3-0 victory against Derby made it four points from their last two games.

'The fact is you have to give the players credit. They were fantastic to a man and not only that but in terms of chances it is probably as many clear-cut as we have created in the whole time I have been here,' he said.

'We had about 12 where you could have walked away and said that could have been a goal. It is hard to say if it was the best we have played but it was certainly a complete performance and we could have scored more than three.

'What will happen is people might try and say Derby were tired, or they were poor.

'Every time you win it seems to be because the opposition were not good enough and every time we lose it is because we are garbage. I said to the players afterwards we have to maintain those levels.

'It can't be a one-off. That is what separates a good team from an average team. It should be the norm for us.'

Nelson Oliveira earned rave reviews for his Derby hat-trick but John Ruddy's superb stop from Tom Ince was vital for Neil.

'It was a key moment and recently those have let us down,' he said.

'John was called upon to make a fantastic save. You can go back to Reading when it is 1-1 and we have two golden opportunities and then Reading go up the other end and get a penalty and we have a man sent off, and we are struggling from that point. You just have to look again around the league.

'We beat Derby and Newcastle lose to Blackburn – that is the unpredictability of the Championship. When you take it lightly in this league it can come back to haunt you.'