Red cards summed up sorry afternoon

Peter Grant said he had no arguments with the sendings off of Jason Shackell and Julien Brellier at Molineux.

The dismissals made it three in the last two games for Norwich, who had Dion Dublin sent off in the closing stages of the 2-0 midweek defeat at Charlton.

Shackell was shown a straight red at Wolves for an over-the-top challenge on Karl Henry, just after the hour mark, while Brellier went less than a quarter of an hour later, when a yellow for a foul on Stephen Elliott which he had followed by kicking the ball away, prompted referee Steve Bennett to produce a second card.

It all leaves Grant without three key players for the Carling Cup tie at Manchester City tonight - a glamour tie that had suddenly lost its lustre after the weekend no-show.

Grant, though still annoyed by Dublin's absence, had no complaints arguments over Saturday's two dismissals, but even his half-hearted attempts to lighten the gloom failed.

“No - we played better - I was hoping he'd send another one off,” he said. “You cannot go in a challenge with your foot up, we understand that, and whether he hits him or whether he doesn't, it doesn't matter.

“Brellier just summed it up really, the afternoon.”

Grant had been forced to name a starting line-up without injured left-back Adam Drury, who watched from the sidelines.

“Just before we came out to leave for here he said he had a little bit of a sore back,” said Grant. “We thought (Jon) Otemobor would have missed out, but he was fit to play, and then we got down this morning, came down on the bus, and Adam pulls out with a sore back. That seems to be the way it is at this moment in time.

“It's tough when you don't have the amount of players and the amount of quality you want, but the boys we have here are more than capable of performing much, much, much better than they have done at this level so far.”