Robert Snodgrass more than impressed on his competitive Carrow Road debut – but the one that got away was still lingering despite Norwich City putting to bed their opening-day humiliation.

Pride was restored to some degree by Chris Hughton's men as a 1-1 draw with Queens Park Rangers and a hugely-improved performance on the 5-0 humbling at Fulham seven days earlier made up for their false start.

But arguably it should have been even better as the Canaries failed to add to Simeon Jackson's classy 12th-minute opener, having already seen Bobby Zamora equalise seven minutes later in controversial circumstances after Djibril Cisse's penalty was saved by John Ruddy.

Indeed, despite his excellent performance it was Snodgrass who had City's best chance to take all three points – but he could only put his free header over the bar from close range after debutant Javier Garrido's sublime centre.

'It just bounced off my head,' agonised Snodgrass. 'It was one of those situations. If that ducks underneath the bar and we get in the lead… You've got to be in the right area to get those chances and I'd be worried if I wasn't getting in those areas.

'It was good. My first competitive home game. So to try to get a victory was first and foremost and it wasn't to be, but it was a great performance in terms of creating chances and going forward. A good team performance.

'For the fans and for us being out there, we must take loads of positives from that. We could have won that game by three or four, we had some great chances and on our day we would've got three points. It wasn't to be. Football's a funny old game. So we move on to next week and hopefully we can get three points there (at Tottenham).'

Controversy surrounded QPR's equaliser, with Sebastien Bassong's challenge on Cisse a little soft as far as Hughton was concerned. Of greater annoyance was the fact Zamora was well inside the penalty area when Cisse took his penalty – putting him in prime position to net the rebound ahead of the City defenders.

'None of us have really seen a replay,' added Snodgrass of referee Mark Clattenburg's decision. 'My first impression was I didn't think it was penalty but everybody's always going to say that. It's one of those ones we had the chances to win the game had chances in the first half, it wasn't to be so we move on.'

And as he does that, Snodgrass can be content with an impressive afternoon hugging City's right touchline – as well as leading Armand Traore a merry dance for most of it.

'Myself, I'm just glad I'm at the level of fitness I want to be at,' said the summer signing from Leeds – who took his place in City's midfield alongside two other former Leeds midfielders in Jonny Howson and Bradley Johnson.

'I loved it, loved every second. It's better when you're doing well as a team, every individual would like it better. Especially after last week's performance when not one of us did well. To do that against a tough QPR side who have got some great players… It was good.

'I'm not a luxury type of player,' added Snodgrass, who was given a more central role off Grant Holt at Craven Cottage.

'I like to try to help the team out, try to help Russell Martin out at the back, not let him get two-v-one or one-v-one, try to help the team as much as possible.

'Playing in the Premier League isn't easy. It's about hard work and helping the team. It's not about individuals. You need to work hard first and foremost to try to help your team off the ball, and I firmly believe everybody did that today.'

Snodgrass went over on his ankle during the 90 minutes and despite leaving Carrow Road with a protective boot on his right foot as a precaution, he still expects to feature at Tottenham on Saturday, if not in Tuesday's League Cup visit from Scunthorpe United.