Norwich City: Liam Manning on Coventry City takeaways

Frank Lampard and the Sky Blues’ support were furious at the visitors' game management to protect a slender lead from Mathias Kvistgaarden’s early strike.

Norwich had two players booked prior to the interval for delaying restarts, and the second half was punctuated by a series of forced stoppages.

Manning admitted it would have been a 'steal' to claim all three points, which looked to be heading back to Norfolk until Haji Wright’s 96th minute leveller.

The Canaries' chief was also pressed for his view on Coventry's substitutes appearing to engage in actively distracting Kenny McLean and Kvistgaarden at two first half attacking set pieces.

“There was loads of it throughout, right, from us as well. Naturally you get those emotional things so I’m not going to be pointing any fingers because let’s be clear, we obviously managed the game in a certain way at times as well, which we have to learn to do better,” said Manning. “That’s what you get when points are on the line, the pressure of people wanting to do well.

"When you get so close to nicking, and it was a steal, nearly nicking three points, we’re disappointed. It was one of those where we weren’t quite at the level we needed to be.

"We defended too much, we didn’t manage the game well enough when we won it back. We didn’t manage to keep it well enough and that’s a whole host of things from the basics, speed of thought, getting into shape quick enough and bravery to play and do it.

"We ended up on the back foot quite a lot defending but I thought we showed some real compactness, some real togetherness and some real toughness which is going to be really important from the group, especially in these early stages.”

Norwich welcome Wrexham to Carrow Road this coming weekend looking to radically improve in possession after a one-sided duel at the CBS Arena where they mustered one shot on target, and had 36pc of the ball against Lampard's side.

“I thought they caused us some real problems," said Manning. "But having said that, I think we’ve performed a lot, lot better – Middlesbrough at home – and come away with nothing, whereas in this game we weren’t where we need to be and we steal a point which is Championship football.

“We’ve spoken before around what do you look like on a day when you’re not at your best, and I think what we did show is a real fight and a real desire to defend the box, which, for the lads on a bad day is really, really important.”

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