AMID all the hullaballoo of a frenetic derby match with five goals, and two penalties, forgotten man Jamie Peters came on in the unusual role of left-back.

Derek Davis

AMID all the hullaballoo of a frenetic derby match with five goals, and two penalties, forgotten man Jamie Peters came on in the unusual role of left-back.

The Canadian, who has been a regular in the reserves at right-back, was called upon when Ben Thatcher limped out a couple of minutes before the break and he won praise from manager Jim Magilton.

He said: “There was a rumble of laughter when we threw Jaime Peters on against the 6ft 3ins Dave Mooney and Jaime is 5ft 2ins but he has come from nowhere to produce a performance like that at left-back. It was tremendous as he has never played there before, apart from the Canadian school league under-eights.”

Magilton also had a word for third goalscorer Jon Stead, who came back from a back injury to play his part.

He said: “Jon took his goal very well and showed great composure.”

Defiant Canaries boss Bryan Gunn is confident the spirit among players and fans is right for them to avoid the drop to League One.

City have not been in the third tier of English football for 49 years but have just two games left to avoid that ignominy.

The Canaries play next Monday night against Reading and could be relegated at Carrow Road if results go against them on Saturday.

But Gunn insists the mood is positive among his players who can only concentrate on their own performance.

He said: “We'll have to wait and see what happens next week. There are lots of games that could have an affect on our future but we can't worry about that.

“We have a huge game on Monday night now and that is all our focus is on.

“A lot of managers have said to me that we are too good to go down but we are in the situation we are in. We have to win and do the business against Reading.”