This game was played out by two sides with little to play for.
Despite Ipswich giving us false hope of leap-frogging them by going 1-
0 down at Derby, it was soon apparant that we would finsih the season
in 8th. Both sides held the ball and passed it well, but neither
seemed very interested in putting the extra effort into carving out
any real chances.

In fact, it took a bizarre own goal to break the deadlock: with only
sixteen seconds of the second half gone, Paul McVeigh sent a
trademark cross into the box towards Iwan, but it was defender Mears
who got his head on the ball, to loop it high into the air. Everyone
expected 'keeper Gould to simply pluck the ball from above his head,
but instead he simply watched and let it drop in at the far post,
much to our amusement!

The second goal was less amusing, but a worthy winner. Rivers was
sent scampering down the wing, and as he got to the by-line he
chipped a delighful cross to the far post, where the on-rushing Phil
Mulryne was on hand to stab home from less than six yards.

As the game drew to a close, Greeno was called upon to make a couple
of good saves, and Ian Henderson had a drive tipped round the post,
but substitute Nielsen came closest to adding to the score with
virtually the last kick of the match. He tricked his way into the
box, and forced Gould into a good reflex save, pushing the ball onto
the far post and away to safety.

Now, it strikes me that I've managed to write an entire match report
without mentioning one of the most impressive players on the pitch:
Keith Briggs. Worthington gave him his full debut and asked him to
play in his prefered right-back position. He looked strong in the
tackle, his timing was good, and he also looked good going forwards.
He has his work cut out for him, replacing Kenton and Nedergaard, but
on this showing he looks up to the task. Dare we hope that Briggs and
Drury can emulate Culverhouse and Bowen? MLS

* * * * * *

Nationwide Division 1 2002-2003: Final table

Team P W D L F A Pts GD
Portsmouth 46 29 11 6 96 45 98 51
Leicester 46 26 14 6 73 40 92 33
====================================
Shef'd Utd 46 23 11 12 72 52 80 20
Reading 46 25 4 17 61 46 79 15
Wolves 46 20 16 10 81 44 76 37
Forest 46 20 14 12 82 50 74 32
------------------------------------
Ipswich 46 19 13 14 80 64 70 16
NORWICH 46 19 12 15 60 49 69 11 8th
Millwall 46 19 9 18 59 69 66 -10
Wimbledon 46 18 11 17 76 73 65 3
Gillingham 46 16 14 16 56 65 62 -9
Preston 46 16 13 17 68 70 61 -2
Watford 46 17 9 20 54 70 60 -16
Palace 46 14 17 15 59 52 59 7
Rotherham 46 15 14 17 62 62 59 0
Burnley 46 15 10 21 65 89 55 -24
Walsall 46 15 9 22 57 69 54 -12
Derby 46 15 7 24 55 74 52 -19
Bradford 46 14 10 22 51 73 52 -22
Coventry 46 12 14 20 46 62 50 -16
Stoke 46 12 14 20 45 69 50 -24
====================================
Wednesday 46 10 16 20 56 73 46 -17
Brighton 46 11 12 23 49 67 45 -18
Grimsby 46 9 12 25 48 84 39 -36

* * * * * *

Last night was the Club's Awards Dinner, a gathering of all the
sponsors and supporters groups, as well as all the players (we had
Darel Russell on our table) and staff at the Club. The Capital
Canaries had a table, as did the Northern Canaries and South West
Canaries, and it was great to see so many familiar faces from
the 'terraces'.

The tickets were £45, which is certainly not cheap, but it was a sell
out, so you could hardly say it was over-priced. There are not many
opportunities to get so close to the players, which was great for the
autograph hunters and photographers!

Oh, and Darel did let slip that Mark Rivers was probably the least
fit player at the club, which came as quite a surprise - lol. MLS

* * * * * *

Yesterday was a busy day at the Club, as they also announced our new
shirt sponsors: Proton (a Malaysian car company, who now own Lotus).
The new shirts were modelled by two young women at the Awards Dinner
last night - they've actually designed women's versions too! The
shirts looked quite nice, but such a shame that the home kit
advertises Proton and not Lotus. The Lotus logo looks good on the
away shirt, but would have looked fab on the home one! MLS

To view the new kit, click here:
http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/cn/vwp?.dir=/New+Kit&.src=gr&.dnm
=NewKit0304.jpg

* * * * * *

A very brief review of 2002/03:

It would be easy to look back at the season just ended with
disappointment and a sense of failure… after all, we failed to be
promoted, we failed to reach the play offs and we failed to even
finish above Ipswich.

Nevertheless, this was another good, solid and even successful
campaign. We let ourselves down around Christmas, even more than
normal, but that partly reflected our lack of strength in depth, and
partly the fragile nature of confidence.

We reacted superbly to the defeat in Cardiff, and stormed the early
part of the season, adding a resolute approach to away games to our
fortress mentality at home. In fact, we were unbeaten in our first
seven away games – a big improvement on the previous season – and
only lost that record when we missed a last minute penalty at
Bradford.

After a sticky patch, City finally recovered and ended the season
with a good run of six wins and two draws in our final ten games –
unfortunately it was not quite enough. But during that run, Zema
Abbey was asked to take on Iwan's mantle, scoring six goals in 13
starts, and young Ryan Jarvis was handed his debut and a place in
Canary history as City's youngest ever player. There are always
reasons to remain optimistic!

Looking to next season, Nigel Worthington will hope to bring in some
fresh faces, having had a bit of a clear out recently. If he can
strengthen the first team with a couple of good acquisitions, we'll
have another good shout. What it will take, more than anything is
consistency. Not just from individual players, but also in terms of
formations and tactics.

Talking of consistency, the Capital Canaries Player of the Season was
never really in doubt. Despite impressive displays from both Robert
Green and Paul McVeigh, it was Adam Drury all the way for the
majority of our members. His consistency at the highest levels earned
him half of all the votes cast, adding our Shield to the Barry Butler
and countless other awards with which he rightly walked away. MLS

* * * * * *

From: Roger Press
Martin - Thanks for all your hard work over the past five years. As
an exile in the U.S. of A., I'm particularly grateful to have all the
Canary news I can get. As others have said, your introductory match
summaries and analysis put many of the match reports to shame. Best
wishes, Roger Press

From: George Hubbard
Dear Martin - Very many thanks for all you have done. Your services
have been so much appreciated and will be greatly missed. All good
wishes, George Hubbard

From: David Welch
Martin - I would like to thank you enormously for your time and
effort over the last few years - for those of us unable to make the
games (my last was the away game at Pride Park), your services have
been greatly appreciated. I hope that an editor can be found and if
they do half as good a job as you have then Canary News will carry on
as a huge success. Wishing you the best for your future endeavours.
Dave

From: Keith Newton
Thanks Martin - I will miss the canary news email updates and can
understand why you do not continue this as it must take a fair bit of
time. It is a shame that the Club is restricted to official stuff and
cannot do something similar. Have a good summer. Keith

[Many thanks Roger, George, David and Keith, and everyone else who
has written to me over the last few years. The Capital Canaries
committee realises how important Canary News is to its members, and
other City fans throughout the world, so I'm hopeful that it will
continue in some shape or form. You can all help make it even better,
by submitting your own match reports and comments, so they reach a
wider audiance. All the best, and here's to next season! MLS]

* * * * * *