Hurrah! We've Scored a GOAL!

Simon Whaley has returned to Carrow Road after Rochdale failed to extend the midfielders loan stay at Spotland.

The second month of Whaley’s loan spell expired on Sunday, and the midfielder now faces an uncertain future, after the City boss admitted Whaley will find it difficult to get back into his plans.

Any permanent move for Whaley looks unlikely as Norwich will want to recover as much as they can of the transfer fee paid for the former Preston midfielder when he signed in the summer.

Whaley made six appearances for City before his loan move and has been a prolific provider for Dale, helping them maintain their unlikely promotion push with two goals of his own in League Two.

Norwich City

Finally, Norwich’s away form is something for supporters to get excited about, as City have been beaten just twice away from home since Paul Lambert’s arrival at Carrow Road in August, and history suggests it could lead them back to the Championship at the first attempt.

City are currently unbeaten in their last three league away games, and unbeaten in five in all competitions, and you have to go back to the 2003-04 season when they last won five in a row in any competition.

City’s run in the spring of 2004 was part of a seven game winning streak of league games, and Paul Lambert’s side can emulate that feat over the 7 days when they travel to Southampton this weekend and then host struggling Brighton next Tuesday.

If results go the way of the Canaries then they could over take three of the four teams ahead of them and be sitting right behind Leeds by the end of the month.

Norwich City

Norwich City are currently the best supported team in League One with their average home attendance 500 higher than League leaders Leeds United and over 4000 higher than any other side.

Last weekend’s attendance of 25025 against Tranmere pushed City’s league average at Carrow Road up to 24223, and under Paul Lambert’s stewardship the Canaries have kept crowds close to last season’s Championship levels, when the home average was 24542.

Elland Road may have housed League One’s highest attendance of the season so far, in the form of 31838 which came when Charlton visited in October, but their average of 23646 sees them sitting in second place behind City.

With at least four of City’s potential promotion rivals, Leeds, MK Dons, Huddersfield and Millwall, still to visit Carrow Road, there is every prospect of maintaining or improving their current attendance average.

Norwich’s figures also stand up well against the top two tiers of English football where six Premiership teams, Hull, Birmingham, Bolton and Burnley, Portsmouth and Wigan cannot match City’s average level of support this season, with gates at Fratton Park and the DW Stadium being regularly less than 20000.