A game of two sodding halves…

Norwich 3 West Ham 1

Manage to get to the pub just in time to see Snodgrass curl home a brilliant free-kick. Typical. And to make it worse he's got a comedy beard. The Match of The Day evidence reveals we dominated the first half. Good work by Morrison sees his ball find Nolan in the clear. Kevin hits the keeper's legs when he arguably should have scored. Demel then hits the bar with a thumping header from a corner. Some quick thinking by Nolan sees us take the lead. The West Ham skipper keeps the ball alive after Rat's cross rebounds off a defender, playing it into the path of Ravel Morrison who slots home. With the Irons one goal up at half-time and Norwich being booed off it's time for another clean sheet. Though ominously there's no Winston Reid.

Second half it all goes Letsby Avenue as Jussi drops a routine high ball to offer Delia Smith's boys hope. Fighting to retrieve the ball he pulls down Hooper, though the contact is minimal, and the ref awards a penalty. Though the Sky replay reveals that Turner has actually kicked the keeper's glove when he had both hands on the ball during the melee and it should have been a free-kick. Hooper sends his penalty straight down the middle. It gets worse as Howson thumps the bar with a great shot. As the ball rebounds off the bar Collins bumps into a Norwich striker and it's a free kick on the edge of the box. Snodgrass curls in another stunner, the fourth brilliant free kick we've had scored against us this season.

Carlton Cole is bought on too late and his control was never his strong point. We don't keep the ball well enough to seriously threaten a comeback. The Canaries add a third in added time as Fer profits from a rebound off Tomkins' tackle and fires in a low shot that Jussi should have done better with.

Matt texts to say "What is the point of Downing?" and he's giving WHU up (for the 499th time). We've been unlucky in the sense of a rare mistake from Jusssi and an unstoppable free kick have cost us the game, but as ever, without a striker we haven't been able to score more than once when dominating. No side has ever tried to stay up without a striker and can't see that we will. The two weeks' break is coming at a good time as we need to get Petric and Cole fitter and Andy Carroll closer to a December return. And whatever happens, we have to buy a striker in January.