Football: Huckerby bows out in style

DARREN Huckerby brought the curtain down on his glorious three- month loan spell with a one-man wonder show to leave Norwich well on course for promotion.

His sensational solo effort, which sent City on their way to a 10th home victory, was one of the best seen at Carrow Road for years.

At the final whistle, after Huckerby had helped wrap up a 4-1 win with an own goal assist, the home crowd rose as one to acclaim their departing hero.

Norwich simply cannot afford to shell out the pounds 1million likely to be needed to land Huckerby outright, but the feelings of the Norwich faithful are that they should break the bank to keep him.

They told director and majority shareholder Delia Smith what they thought with chants of "sign him" and "get your chequebook out".

Manager Nigel Worthington said: "We're going to miss him. He's the sort of player who writes his own script.

"I'm sorry to lose him, but we have to realise where we are financially. Like a lot of clubs, our finances are tight."

Huckerby ran riot, hell-bent on signing off in style, and the home side took a deserved lead after 34 minutes when he waltzed through the Cardiff defence which had no answer to his blistering pace.

Picking up a poor header by Gary Cross just inside the Cardiff half, Huckerby surged past Gareth Whalley and Vidmar before stroking the ball coolly home.

Cardiff were exposed again after 54 minutes when Roberts and Huckerby combined to make the most of an intelligent pass out of defence by Jason Shackell.

Roberts showed the subtle side of his game by chesting the ball down to Huckerby, whose return pass allowed the Welshman time to pick his spot.

Cardiff pulled a goal back five minutes later when striker Peter Thorne scored with a close-range header.

But 12 minutes later, Craig Fleming made it 3-1 and 11 minutes from time Norwich struck again, Huckerby's shot being deflected home by Vidmar to seal a decisive win.

MAN OF THE MATCH DARREN HUCKERBY

A wonder goal for his last hurrah.

NORWICH: Green 6, Edworthy 7, Drury 7, Shackell 7, Fleming 7, Holt 6, Mulryne 6, Henderson 7, McVeigh 6, HUCKERBY 8, Roberts 7.

CARDIFF: Alexander 6, Barker 7, Croft 6 (Weston 5), Gabbidon 7, Vidmar 6, Campbell 6 (Lee 5), Whalley 7, Boland 6, Langley 6, Earnshaw 6, Thorne 7.

MANAGERS: Worthington 7, Lawrence 6.

REFEREE: A Butler 6.

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