DAVID Mooney can't wait to taste his first East Anglian derby at Portman Road on Sunday (12.45pm).
Having only joined on loan from Reading back in March, the 24-year-old missed out on City's earlier clash with their local rivals back in December, which saw Norwich the 2-0 victors at Carrow Road - but Mooney told canaries.co.uk that result is still firmly on the players' minds ahead of their trip to Suffolk.
"I can't wait for it now," he said. "All the lads have been saying all week about how good it was when they beat Ipswich a few months ago. So if we can replicate that this week and hopefully results go our way on Saturday, we'll know where we stand come 4pm Sunday evening.
"It's going to be a hot atmosphere. I think they've been doing alright there recently and they're mid-table and safe, so they'll probably go out there, let their hair down and play, and we know we're going to have to go out there and play as we have done when we've won our last three games against Cardiff, Plymouth and on Monday against Watford."
With Mooney unable to play against his parent club a week on Monday at Carrow Road, Sunday's game will be his penultimate of the season for City: "I only remembered after the Watford game it was my last game at Carrow Road until whatever happens next year, so we'll wait and see what happens then. But it was a good game on Monday and come this Sunday, hopefully I can give the fans a good send off before the Charlton game.
"Everyone's looking forward to it. I've got people coming over for the game and I think it's one of those games that both teams want to win, but hopefully we can get the result."
Several games on Saturday could potentially affect the Canaries' league position - one being Reading versus Barnsley, the Tykes currently sitting one place below Norwich in the Championship table ahead of the weekend. Mooney added: "I've already been on to the boys at Reading because they play Barnsley and we kind of need them to do us a favour. They've been on a bit of a bad run so hopefully they can come out of it and get a win against Barnsley and hopefully other results go for us as well, and if they do, it gives us that boost going into Sunday, and we only need a win and we're three points clear with two games to go and it's all in our hands."
The Irishman was asked if Ipswich striker and former Norwich loanee Kevin Lisbie's pre-match comments would inspire a reaction in the City team. He said: "I think that was probably a spur of the moment thing that he said after a game, and it was just one of those things it doesn't really effect how the game is going to go and it's just words at the end of the day.
"It will give us that bit of confidence before the game, but unless we perform out on the pitch we know we won't win. At the end of the day you can do all the talking you want but its the performances on the pitch that count."
