Jerome haunts the Bluebirds again

NORWICH striker Cameron Jerome scored for the fourth game in a row against his old club Cardiff to continue his hold over them.

- Jake Bacon

And his 40th-minute winner ensured the Canaries made it a hat-trick of league wins.

Many fans at the start of the season would have had Norwich nailed on for automatic promotion. But finishing 2016 on a run of just two wins from 12 league games has killed off any hopes of reducing a 14-point gap to second-placed Brighton.

“Reaching the top two will be difficult,” said Canaries boss Alex Neil said. “We’ll have to go on an incredible run, which we have done before. But we’ll have a real focus on getting into the play-offs.

“We’re starting to hit good form at the right time. This is the time in the season to build momentum. We’ve now won three in a row after a good spell and it feels as if the players have real confidence at the moment.

“Our away form has been poor and I’ve been critical of it. We haven't been doing the ugly side of the game but we more than did that against Cardiff.