CHRIS LAKEY Nigel Worthington has welcomed the opportunity thrown up by the fixture list to put right the no-show at Coventry on Saturday.

CHRIS LAKEY

Nigel Worthington has welcomed the opportunity thrown up by the fixture list to put right the no-show at Coventry on Saturday.

The Canaries went down to their second defeat of the season at the Ricoh Arena and have managed just two away wins this calendar year - and only eight in all competitions since winning the Championship crown a little over two years ago.

On top of that, City's leading striker Robert Earnshaw has scored just once away from home since his big money move last January.

However, Worthington is convinced that this season's displays away from Carrow Road bode well for the future.

“It's like the Rob Earnshaw situation - we have got to keep creating chances to give ourselves a chance of scoring goals and winning games,” he said.

Chances were created in the opening day defeat at Leeds, and in the draw at Derby, but Coventry was a different matter, with ex-Canaries stopper Andy Marshall only called into action late on, when the game was already beyond City.

“I thought we passed the ball reasonably well at times, other times we gave it away a little bit cheaply,” said Worthington. “We didn't create anything, which was the first game this season when we haven't created.

“After that, conceding the three goals - we could have been better on that front. There were a lot of good things - a lot of hard work went in, some of the quality of passing was good, but it wasn't a disaster by no means. I'm disappointed with the result, I don't think it was a 3-0 defeat as far as performance was concerned, but these things happen and we will be looking to bounce back.”

And that chance, albeit a tough one, comes tonight at Roots Hall, when City will be up against last season's League Two champions who have made a decent start to life in the Championship. Having beaten Stoke and Sunderland at home they were held to a goalless draw by Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend, but they are clearly no pushovers in Essex.

“It will be a tough game and I think Southend have proved that already this year,” said Worthington. “They have had some very good results there, they will play, they will work hard and we have got to go and make sure we go and do well what we can do, that is: hard work ethic, pass the ball well and create chances.”

Southend have in their ranks a player Worthington tried to sign - striker Fredy Eastwood, scorer of two goals this season and 23 last season.

“He is a player that we inquired about, a player that we liked, but he wasn't for sale,” said Worthington. “We respected that.”

While Worthington is likely to have Michael Spillane travel again, and possibly another of the Academy products, it's too soon for Rossi Jarvis, who is on the way back from injury but, despite 709 minutes for the Academy at the weekend, still not match ready.