Alex Neil never doubted he would halt Norwich City's hellish Championship downturn.

The Canaries' smashed Brentford 5-0 at Carrow Road to end a wretched winless spell that had turned up the heat on the under-pressure Scot.

'What you have to do is stick to your beliefs, dig in and don't give up,' he said. 'If you give up the players and everybody else will see that and at no stage was I ever anywhere near that and I wouldn't be. Players can sense that. They responded because as a manager, ultimately at times, you need them to play well for you and they gave me everything.

'Regardless of who you are or what club you are at in football there are better managers than me that have questions posed of them. Some of the top managers in the world have to face the same questions when they go through a difficult run. I am no different.

'What I want to do is get my team right and win games. It is difficult. I have had real success over a short space of time in management, in terms of two promotions, but when you are doing the same type of things that are no longer bringing success and it isn't working that is frustrating.'

Norwich head to Barnsley this weekend looking to build on an emphatic league win over the Bees and seal a first away league victory since beating Wolves on October 1.

Neil spoke after the recent Derby defeat how it felt like he was being kicked in the gut with the constant focus on City's shortcomings and his apparent inability to halt the slide.

'Doubting yourself doesn't come into it. I don't doubt myself,' he said. 'I never doubted myself and what I am capable of because I have done it on numerous occasions. It is just about getting players playing for each other. They have to do it on the pitch.

'I think perhaps I am not affecting the players as much as I need to and they are the most important people. It is frustrating for me because I said to the lads after the Brentford game I don't feel I have been getting the best out of them.'