Norwich City midfielder Simon Lappin on Charlton
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.”
