NORWICH City skipper Gary Doherty admitted they could not afford anything less than victory in their final two Championship games to give themselves a realistic chance of avoiding relegation.

Elvin King

NORWICH City skipper Gary Doherty admitted they could not afford anything less than victory in their final two Championship games to give themselves a realistic chance of avoiding relegation.

“The only way we can see it is two wins," said Doherty. “We've got to win two games and then hope things go for us. I am sure if we get two wins we'll be OK, but it's going to be a nail-biter now.

“Tonight's a big game for Barnsley away at Coventry. You have to watch and hope other teams do favours but we've got to produce in front of our fans at home to Reading next Monday.

“There is a lot of pressure and then you've got the pressure of your own game.”

Doherty said City allowed Ipswich Town to get on terms too soon yesterday.

“You want to keep a 1-0 lead for a lot longer than we did,” he said. “But it was a good move by them and a terrific goal.

“We were confident at half-time. We felt comfortable, we felt their crowd might turn on them if we could keep it tight but they came out full steam ahead in the second half.

“But the second goal was a bit ridiculous. Marshy hasn't touched him (Kevin Lisbie).

“It's just another penalty and another costly decision. The penalty changed the game.”

It was the 11th penalty awarded against City this season - and the tenth to be scored.

“That's 11 too many, but some of them have been real duffers and it's frustrating,” said Doherty.

“But we can't keep going on about it. We've really got to get our heads right and we've got to win two out of two now.

“We're feeling a bit hard done by, but we've got to really dust ourselves down and go again because we need two massive wins now.”