Charlton dropped two precious points at Carrow Road and lost top spot in League One as Grant Holt’s injury-time header rescued Norwich in a 2-2 draw.
The big striker leapt to nod home Chris Martin’s deflected cross and complete a stirring fightback, although Charlton were convinced he had fouled goalkeeper Rob Eliot in the process of scoring.

The visitors had dominated the first half for long periods and looked to be heading towards a comfortable victory as they moved 2-0 ahead within 40 minutes.

The visitors took the lead after 18 minutes when poor defending from a corner allowed Deon Burton to send a diving header past goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

Phil Parkinson’s side doubled their advantage five minutes before the interval when winger Lloyd Sam weaved his way down the right flank before delivering a superb cross which was nodded home by youngster Jonjo Shelvey.

It looked as though Norwich were up against it at that stage, but they responded well to the setback and were back in it just before half-time when a quick throw from Holt caught the Charlton defence napping and Wes Hoolahan marked his return to the side by running through and firing home.

Norwich piled on the pressure after the break, with Elliot twice denying youngster Korey Smith, but Norwich got their reward in the end as Holt bundled home his sixth goal of the season.
Norwich striker Grant Holt heaped praise on his team-mate Wes Hoolahan after his goal in the Charlton draw.

The Irish midfielder looked set to move away in August, but new boss Paul Lambert has given him a fresh start.

Holt told BBC Radio Norfolk: “He played well. You put him in there and he’s a nuisance, he’s great on the ball and he’s a different option.

“Fair play to the manager, he put him in at the right time and it’s worked, we all know what Wes has got.”

Hoolahan scored in the 2-2 draw on Saturday from Holt’s quick throw, but the City skipper took no credit.

He said: “I heard the shout off Wes, I thought he was having a go at us, fortunately he got the ball and put it in.

“It was a great bit of awareness by Wes to see it was there and fortunately he put it in.”

“It shows that we’ve got the desire to win games, we never doubt the quality that we’ve got in the squad, we know we can score goals,” he said.

“Today it was a different style, we had to go for it, and we’ve done that and I think we’re unfortunate not to win the game.”

Norwich City midfielder Simon Lappin says last season’s final-day heartbreak against Charlton at The Valley is now in the past - and the Canary players are focussing on what they need to do at Carrow Road tomorrow.
Despite being bottom of the Championship table at the time and already doomed themselves, the Addicks consigned City to League One with a 4-2 victory at The Valley back in May.
Lappin was one of the Norwich players involved on that fateful day - but insisted everyone was looking forward to facing Phil Parkinson’s in-form side tomorrow rather than dwelling on past events

Charlton are top of the League One table, last Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Southampton the first time they have dropped points after a six-game winning streak to start their campaign with a bang.
He told First News:”It’s a big game against the side that’s top of the table and will be a very, very tough game, but it’s one we’re all looking forward to.
“We all believe we can go on and get the three points. We know it’s going to be very difficult because they are on a run of good form but it’s up to us to go out there and do what we need to do.
“They’ve got off to a great start but we’ve been on a wee run of form ourselves. Obviously we lost on Monday night, which is disappointing, but we’ve been putting out some good football and tomorrow hopefully we can put on a performance.
“What happened last season has gone, this is a new game and we will treat it just as we would every other game we approach.”

Meanwhile with City’s midfield options hit by injuries to Stephen Hughes, Owain Tudur Jones and Matt Gill and left-back Adam Drury being assessed following a hip injury suffered at MK Dons on Monday, Lappin said he was still waiting to find out where he will be playing against the league leaders:
“I don’t know, you’ll need to ask the Manager, obviously he’ll know what the team’s going to be. I’m just happy to be back in the side and playing football again. It’s what I wanted to do, with a great game tomorrow to be involved in hopefully.”
The versatile Scot found himself carrying out two or three different roles at stadium MK on Monday as injuries took their toll.

He said: “Sometimes these things happen, you’ve just got to adapt and get on with it. As I said, I’m just happy to be playing in the side. Obviously the manager knows that I prefer to play in midfield but if I’m asked to do a job elsewhere on the field I’ll give it my lot and try not to let anybody down.”

Paul Lambert said earlier that Wes Hoolahan has future at City under his leadership, hopefully this will end all the speculation and rumour concerning the player.

Lambert said of the player:

“Wes has played terrifically well in the last two reserve games and his attitude been great, as has that of the rest of the lads,” said Lambert.

“Wes has been a top player in the Championship not that long ago, but we had to try and get a bit of stability into the side and be hard to beat. But that is not to say he won’t figure in the future.”

I suppose that is as much as a confirmation as anyone will get from Lambert.  He also went onto to speak about former captain Gary Doherty who days as a City player look to be over.

“Gary has been a terrific servant for this football club, he was captain not that long ago. But sometimes you’ve got to change it and I’m not going to stagnate anyone’s career if someone comes in for him.”
Meanwhile City winger Simon Whaley has joined League Two Rochdale on a one-month emergency loan.

Whaley was signed from Preston by former manager Bryan Gunn in the summer, but has failed to start a League One fixture since Paul Lambert was appointed City boss last month.

The 24-year-old has played six games for City, three in League One and three in the Carling Cup and Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

Whaley’s spell at Spotland will run from September 18 to October 18 inclusive.

“Simon needs games,” said City boss Lambert. “He came to me and asked if he could go out on loan if he wasn’t in our immediate plans, and this move gives him the chance to get some games under his belt.”

PHIL Parkinson has revealed his surprise at Norwich’s decision to sack Bryan Gunn after only two games ahead of Charlton’s visit to Carrow Road on Saturday.

The Canaries began the campaign as one of the favourites, along with the Addicks, to bounce back to the Championship at the first attempt.

However, Norwich made the worst possible start with a 7-1 home hammering by Colchester and even though they followed it up with a 4-0 Carling Cup success at Yeovil, Gunn was replaced by Paul Lambert within a week of the new season.

Parkinson said: “It is always strange looking in from the outside. You let a manager bring in 10 players and then he gets sacked after one league game.

“Albeit the first was 7-1 but still they’ve backed him to spend a few quid.

“They haven’t all been free transfers because Grant Holt had quite a hefty transfer fee, so I think everybody was surprised that he only got two games.”

Results have improved since Lambert’s arrival, although the Canaries go into Saturday’s match on the back of a 2-1 defeat at MK Dons.

Parkinson is expecting the league leaders to face a real test this weekend and predicted Norwich will be involved in the promotion chase come the end of the season.

He said: “It is similar to Southampton last week - it is quite difficult to predict how they are going to play in terms of their system.

“They’ve gone 4-4-2 at home and 4-5-1 away from home.

“But we’ve obviously identified who we think their key players are and there has been a big changeover in both the management and playing squad.

“They’ve got a lot of quality in the squad, a lot of strength in depth and they’ll be up there.”

Norwich were relegated on the final day of last season at The Valley when they were brushed aside 4-2 by the already demoted Addicks.

The poor display from the Canaries led to some vociferous criticism from the visiting fans, but Parkinson today diplomatically declined to speculate on why Norwich had put up such a limp display with so much at stake.

He added: “Obviously we played very well that particular day.

“It was a strange old atmosphere and I don’t really want to go back over old ground and comment on their performance.

“I’ll leave that to the Norwich people.”

Lloyd Sam returned to training today after picking up a knock against Southampton last week and the League One August player of the month is expected to start at Carrow Road.

Gary Doherty has revealed he is looking to secure a move away from Norwich City after failing to break into manager Paul Lambert’s plans.

Former Tottenham defender Doherty has not featured in a League One match for the Canaries since Lambert took charge at Carrow Road last month.

The 29-year-old now appears resigned to moving on and he is weighing up his options before making a firm decision on his future.

He told the Eastern Daily Press: “The gaffer has obviously mentioned to me that he wants to bring in his own players, but I think it is up to me now whether I want to move on.

“I am looking at a few options and stuff and we will see what comes from it.

“I would rather get away, I don’t know if a loan is a good idea, but I am just going to look at my options and see what the craic is, what’s out there.

“I am just holding tight, but if the gaffer needs me he knows that I am there. We have had a few knocks to centre-halves and I have made it clear that if he needs me then I am there for him, but I am pretty far down the pecking order now so I don’t really expect to be involved.”

Norwich Chief executive David McNally has spoken for the first time of the controversial sacking of City legend Bryan Gunn whose tenure as boss was ended after just one league game at the beginning of the season after the 7-1 loss at home to Colchester on the opening day.

McNally who was speaking at a public supporters’ forum said the decision to sack Brian Gunn was based on more than the results of the last seven months.

He said there were also major concerns about:
1. Preparations for the new season”,
2. Preparation for individual matches
3. Post-match assessment
4. The pre-game ‘behaviour’

Those things, were “fundamentally wrong” said McNally,.

McNally also disputed claims that Gunn’s sacking before a game at Exeter on August 15th had been treated shabbily.

“We had a board meeting on the Thursday and we discussed Bryan Gunn’s abilities as manager,” he said. “The decision was taken late into the night and once that decision was made you have to get on with it and put measures into place to ensure that action is taken.

“I did not phone him and tell him of the decision, I flew down to Exeter. I did not haul him off the training ground. I asked for a private meeting and we discussed man-to-man, eye-to-eye what we needed to do.

“Those discussions are never nice, but it was certainly dignified and respectful and something that had to be done.

“I would have preferred not to have done it. The easiest thing in the world for me to have done was not to have done it and not to have said to the board, ‘this is what you need to do’.

“I could not do that for this great football club. Whilst I am here I will care passionately about doing the right thing because this club deserves better than it has received in the last four years.

“It doesn’t change the fact that Bryan is and always will be a legend, but things were fundamentally wrong, and that just has to be said.”

McNally also defended the decision to allow Gunn to spend money on new signings during the summer by saying “We back our football manager, whoever he is at that time,” also adding “He is the guy who is ultimately responsible for what happens on the pitch so we have to give him the tools.”

Paul Lambert came in to replace Gunn, a little over three weeks ago, although the dispute over the way City lured him to Carrow Road still  lingers on, with the clubs unable to reach a compromise over compensation and the Essex club’s chairman calling for a fine and point deduction should Norwich be found guilty of acting against the rules.

But McNally insists he played it by the book.

“It still remains private,” he told members of the Norwich City Independent Supporters’ Association. “We are attempting to resolve it as amicably as we can. We did not break any code of conduct and we did not break any rules.

“If we are guilty of anything we are guilty of employing the person we thought was right for the football club and not paying too much attention to the 100-odd applications we received.

“We believe we did things the right way at all times.

“We want this resolved as soon as possible so we can concentrate on other things. Sometimes these things go to tribunal, but if this does we are confident - and don’t worry about points.”

McNally also revealed that 90 per cent of his time was currently spent trying to improve the club’s finances. “They are not in good shape,” he admitted. “We do need to improve the look of our balance sheet. The debt is making us business weary and we are looking at ways of improving it. If you haven’t got it you can’t spend it.”