Why Fozzy wants Cup distraction

Norwich skipper Mark Fotheringham promises not to take League Two strugglers Bury lightly in Saturday's FA Cup third round home tie.The 24-year-old midfielder insists Glenn Roeder's improving squad want the distraction of a high profile cup run after stretching their unbeaten run to seven with a New Year's Day point at in form Crystal Palace.

Norwich skipper Mark Fotheringham promises not to take League Two strugglers Bury lightly in Saturday's FA Cup third round home tie.

The 24-year-old midfielder insists Glenn Roeder's improving squad want the distraction of a high profile cup run after stretching their unbeaten run to seven with a New Year's Day point at in form Crystal Palace.

Bury head to Carrow Road after ending a wretched spell of five consecutive league defeats with a hard fought 1-1 draw at Lincoln - just days after coaches Chris Casper and Keith Alexander were summoned to a crisis board meeting.

“As a footballer you just love the FA Cup and everything about it,” said the Scot. “The lads played a few games away last year to smaller teams and we know Bury will be up for it. They'll be tackling that little bit harder, they'll be running for all the balls, so we know it's going to be a tough game but it's exciting to play in the FA Cup and I hope we can get through this. I would love to play one of the big guns.”

Fotheringham admitted the Canaries left Selhurst Park with a sense of injustice after one-time City target Clinton Morrison cancelled out Darel Russell's early opener.

“After two hard games at home, it's disappointing that we never took the win,” he said. “But I think the lads showed a great attitude against a team who have been firing recently, like ourselves. Neil Warnock said to me after the game that it was two good teams out there and he really enjoyed the game as well, but we were disappointed that we never won. I think we were the better team in the first half.

“We came out in the second half and we knew that we had to start well because there have been a few games in the last few matches where we have not started well, so we knew we wanted to get out of the traps quickly, but it was just unfortunate to lose the goal. These things happen. We'll look at the videos and we'll work on it next week again.”

Fotheringham accepts City remain in a perilous position just above the Championship relegation zone despite pocketing 13 points in the last month.

“We know we're in that situation and we know it's going to be tough,” he said. “But I think it's quite exciting as well because it's so tight. We're just over halfway through the season, so we've got another half to go and we feel confident just now. We're loving all the games and liking being together as players, enjoying each other's company and it's a good group to be in. It's important that we keep putting in the performances as well as getting the results.”

Fotheringham was desperate to return after shaking off a niggling hamstring problem which forced him out of back-to-back home tussles against promotion hopefuls Charlton and Wolves.

“These are the games that you really want to play in as a footballer because Wolves and Charlton are two really good sides,” he said. “I think everybody saw that they've got players who are more than capable of playing in the Premiership. They are the lads you want to test yourself against. But I thought Darel Russell was outstanding and did excellently and led the team really well, and I thought Matty Pattison was superb - the two guys in midfield were great. We've got a good mix in there, I really enjoy playing with the two of them and I hope we're going to keep Matty.”