Paul Lambert insists the management game is anything but easy after enduring another torturous 90 minutes at Everton.

Lambert opted to name an unchanged starting line-up following the previous weekend's Newcastle win, but the Scot was at his animated best for the majority of the afternoon trying to cajole the Canaries inches from the touchline.

Grant Holt's instinctive opener allied to a stout defensive display looked the perfect combination to repel David Moyes' side before Leon Osman deflected Royston Drenthe's strike home.

City were unable to emerge unscathed from Everton's onslaught in the final quarter – but Lambert was delighted with some tangible reward for the Canaries despite succumbing in the closing stages.

'If you said to me before the game we would have taken one point, then we would be okay with that,' he said. 'There are not many who will come and beat them here. Listen, I am delighted to get any point away from home. It is easy to sit or stand where I do and think perhaps it is an easy game. It's not.

'The lads are out there on the field of play trying to make the right decisions and more times than not, they have. It's easy for me to stand there and get frustrated, when I used to make the same mistakes myself. I get caught up in it on the touchline, but I know after the game that I wasn't that good enough myself not to make a mistake or two. That is for sure.'

Lambert resisted any temptation to tinker with the twin strikeforce that sunk the Magpies before Steve Morison's late breather earned Aaron Wilbraham a Premier League debut.

'We took Steve off because the two of them were working really hard up there,' he said. 'Morison has led the line for the best part of this whole season for us. He has played a lot of games for us and the Welsh national side but he has been great. The forwards have produced big goals in big moments. They are brilliant, not just as a front pair, but as lads in the dressing room and if we can keep that spirit we'll be okay.

'I thought the lads deserved another go for what happened at Newcastle. I felt the team picked itself basically. If they perform then great and we played really, really well against Newcastle and here again I thought we gave it a go and did everything we could to win the game.'

Holt's swivel and cute slot to nudge Norwich in front served to further undermine the fallacy Lambert's side rely on brawn rather than brain to compete in the top flight.

'I think he has now scored 50-odd goals in 100 games. In anyone's book that is a phenomenal ratio,' said Lambert. 'He has always been a handful throughout his career and it is great testament to him that he is probably getting the rewards for it. It was a brilliant finish, Morison's lay off to him and then how he has rolled the defender in the box was excellent. He doesn't surprise me because he has been that like for us in League One and the Championship and he seems to be dong it again.'

Lambert's side returned south unbeaten in their two trips to Merseyside this season after another defensive display dripping in resolve just across Stanley Park from Anfield.

'They came rolling right at us and we had to weather the storm, which you have to do,' he said. 'They came at us like a train. It was the same at Anfield where Liverpool came strongly at us, but we defended to do that and get a point there and I felt it was similar today.

'It might have been a bit counter-attacking at times but I felt we did really well. I think if you pick up points away from home it is extremely hard in this league. We did that at Liverpool and now Everton. Any point away from home is huge and it could be come the end of the season.'