Royle says Ipswich are the best...
Norwich City may be 14 points ahead of arch-rivals Ipswich Town, but Tractor Boys' boss Joe Royle STILL believes his team are better than the First Division leaders.
Despite claiming he was not having “a dig” at City, or second-placed West Brom, Royle says his team play at a higher level than both of them.
This despite the fact that both Norwich and West Brom have beaten Ipswich twice this season.
City's 2-0 win at Portman Road just before Christmas took the Canaries to the top of the table, where they have been ever since, and they followed up with a 3-1 win in Norfolk last month, despite a below-par performance.
The Baggies hammered Town 4-1 in September and won 3-2 at Ipswich on Sunday.
Not bad for inferior teams.
Royle – whose defender Fabian Wilnis caused a furore after Town's defeat at Carrow Road by claiming the Canaries weren't good enough to be top of the league – did concede that the top two are destined to win promotion.
But his comment came with a twist, insisting they were there only due to hard work, rather than any outstanding qualities.
“They are up because of the nature of how they operate,” he said. “They are not outstanding – that's not a dig - but they are resilient and do work hard.
“I'm not having a dig at either because both are very hard to beat.”
“West Brom dug deep and Norwich keep a good shape.”
“But neither can play at a level that we can, although both can defend at a level higher than we can.”
Defending certainly isn't Ipswich's forte, with 66 goals shipped in 40 games – only Burnley and Wimbledon have worse records.
Only one major online bookie is still taking bets, and they have Norwich and West Brom at 20-1 ON to go up, and Ipswich at 11-2.
Royle believes the Blues, ninth in the table, can still go up via the play-offs.
“We are still very close and I still feel we can make it,” he said. “We are just three points off that third place and with six games left we still have a chance of winning as many as we can to get into the play-offs and third place is still a realistic target.”
His optimism was matched by his players.
“We have done it before,” said Tommy Miller. “We went on a three-game winning run after losing at home to Millwall and we have to do it again.
“We will pick ourselves up as we have done before this season and we know we can still make the play-offs.”
Teenage sensation Dean Bowditch said: “We still have more than a good chance of getting into the play-offs and going up. We have to keep it going for the last half-dozen games.
“We are going to need everyone to get behind us. The fans, the staff, and us players, who will be working on the training pitches. We are all in it together.”
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Leroy!, Leroy!, Leroy! ---------------------------------------------
NEXT MATCH: Nottingham Forest Vs. Norwich City | City Ground (Nottingham) | Sat 22nd Nov 2008 | Championship
LAST MATCH: Norwich City 2-3 Swansea City | Attendance: 24,262
NEXT DOMESTIC CUP MATCH: TBA
LEAGUE POSITION: 19th (17 PTS)
TOP SCORERS: Leroy Lita (5), Arturo Lupoli (4), Darel Russell (2), Lee Croft (2), John Kennedy (2), Antoine Sibierski (2), Sammy Clingan (1)
TEAM FROM LAST MATCH: David Marshall, Jon Otsemobor, John Kennedy, Gary Doherty, Ryan Bertrand, Sammy Clingan, Matty Pattison, Mark Fotheringham (Wes Hoolahan 62), David Bell, Arturo Lupoli (Jamie Cureton 66), Leroy Lita
SUBS NOT USED: Stuart Nelson, Adam Drury, Elliot Omozusi
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