YOU wouldn't necessarily link Norwich City's 1-0 win at Carlisle on Saturday with the huge ITV flagship television programme 'The X Factor' screened later that evening.
But through combative Canary midfielder Darel Russell, who played a typically busy role in the latest win for Paul Lambert's side, just such a link was made.
Darel's sister Sharlene is one of the members of the all-girl group Miss Frank, who have reached the televised finals of the massively popular show.
Last Saturday was a day for double celebration for Russell as he played his full part in Norwich's gritty victory in the North West in front of 1,014 travelling City fans - and later that evening his sister's group progressed to the final 11 of The X Factor in front of an audience of millions.
After the game Russell told reporters he hoped Canary fans would consider voting for Miss Frank, who have been picking up plaudits since the current series of The X Factor began.
"The Norwich fans have supported the Club and there's been some fans there who have supported me over the years - and I'm going to call on all of the people of Norfolk and Norwich fans everywhere to try and support my sister over the coming weeks," he commented.
"She's one part of the group called Miss Frank in The X Factor and it will be much appreciated any support you can give.
"She goes by the stage name of Shar Alexander but she's Sharlene Russell. Hopefully everyone will enjoy her performances over the coming weeks and hopefully that will be matched by success for us on the pitch!"
Shar originally entered the hugely popular TV talent show as an individual artist but was joined together with two other female entrants from the audition phase.
Darel said he was keeping everything crossed that the group could continue their impressive performances so far and go all the way in the contest: "I'm really excited for her to be honest with you. She's been plugging away at it for many a year now and she's now getting a kind of a break and hopefully the stage will not be too big for her, she'll really grab it with both arms, put in some great performances and get what she deserves.
"She's got a soulful ballad kind of voice. She's only met the girls through the audition stages so it's an all new group, she did originally audition as an individual. However you've got to make your break however you make your break and I wish her all the best."
With the final stages of the programme now being broadcast live on Saturday evenings, the City midfielder won't be able to attend in person but would be supporting from afar: "Unfortunately it's going to be difficult for me to make any of the live shows, so we'll be watching it on the bus on the way back and it will be really exciting to see."
For both players and fans the gruelling trek back from Carlisle will have been made a lot more enjoyable by the excellent three points secured by Wes Hoolahan's solitary strike, a result which pushed the Canaries up into the top six of League One for the first time this season.
He said: "It's a difficult place and we've had a very, very long journey yesterday. To come out and get the result has been massive. It's a long journey home for the fans and the players and to go home without a result would have been really disheartening.
"We perhaps haven't performed as well as we have done over the last couple of weeks but we've got the result and doing that when you're not performing at your best is how you get yourself up this league.
"We've played a bit of entertaining stuff over the last couple of weeks. Today perhaps wasn't as entertaining but the result was the main thing and we've put points on the board and it's going to put us in a good position."
