Canaries on song for visit of Latics

UNBEATEN in six matches in Coca-Cola League One, Norwich will provide daunting opposition for Athletic when they make the long trip to East Anglia on Saturday.

The teams do battle at Carrow Road for the first time in 12 years and the rare meeting brings together two sides whose respective fortunes in recent weeks have been in sharp contrast.

For Athletic — who admittedly seem to enjoy the longer away trips — a record of one win in the last nine league matches has resulted in a slide towards the dreaded relegation places.

For Norwich, a second-half double from leading scorer and captain Grant Holt helped the Canaries to a 3-0 win at Southend on Tuesday night.

The result took them above Colchester United and into third in the table, within four points of Charlton Athletic and the second automatic promotion spot.

That is quite a turnaround after the shock of succumbing 7-1 at home to Colchester on the season's opening weekend, a result which cost then-manager Bryan Gunn his job.

New boss Paul Lambert, who presided over that thumping of Norwich while manager at Colchester, has turned the fortunes of the club around since being appointed on a rolling contract 10 days later.

The Canaries have been beaten only three times in the league since, all away from home at Brentford, MK Dons and Leeds, and appear well placed for an immediate return to the Championship.

Tricky Dublin-born midfielder Wes Hoolahan is a player many Athletic fans will recognise as a result of his exploits while playing for Blackpool.

Hoolahan scored the winner for the Tangerines at Boundary Park in the first leg of the League One play-off semi-final in May, 2007, a two-legged tie his side went on to win 5-2 on aggregate before clinching promotion with a 2-0 defeat of Yeovil at Wembley.