MIDFIELDER Stephen Hughes paid tribute to the fantastic support, both home and away, City receive from the Canary faithful at the pre-match press conference.
The Canaries top the Coca-Cola League One attendance charts, averaging 24,272 for league matches at Carrow Road and just shy of 2,000 fans made the Tuesday night trip to Roots Hall to see the 3-0 win over Southend United. With figures like those it isn't hard to see why the Scotsman is constantly pleasantly surprised by the support he and his team-mates receive.
"The support this Club has is amazing. Some teams when they play away are lucky if they can fill a bus, so I think we are extremely lucky to have the level of support and passionate support we do. When you're up at the top of the league and you're winning most weeks then the fans get behind you and it's like an extra man for us. Everybody enjoys playing in front of 24,000 and the fans have been right behind us."
Having been on the road for nine of the last 12 fixtures, City return to Carrow Road and host Oldham Athletic tomorrow at 3pm. Despite Oldham sitting 19th in the league, they have a better away record than home and the second best defensive record away from home, conceding only nine goals in nine games on the road - only bettered by league leaders Leeds United, to whom they lost 2-0 to in midweek.
"Every game we go into this season is going to be difficult, they've all got their own challenges and we look forward to playing at home with the backing and the fans behind us. We look forward to the game tomorrow, we know it is going to be difficult again but it's another game we'll go and try and get three points," said Hughes.
After the defeat to Carlisle United in the FA Cup last weekend, City returned to winning ways in midweek with a 3-0 win over Southend United at Roots Hall. The League One fixture was also Hughes' first start since the defeat to Leeds United in mid-October at Elland Road.
"I was happy to be back in again, I've waited a while on the sidelines so it was good to get a game. I think most important was to get the three points after Saturday's game against Carlisle. I think we let ourselves down in that one, it was good to bounce back, but it was always going to be a hard game."
Watch the full interviews with manager Paul Lambert, midfielders Stephen Hughes and Tom Adeyemi on Canaries Player ahead of the Coca-Cola League One fixture against Oldham Athletic
After suffering only the fourth defeat at Brunton Park in Paul Lambert's 22-game reign so far, it was crucial heads didn't drop.
"We couldn't. We know the league is very important, we're making good progress in the league so we knew we had to get back into winning ways."
With a dead leg ruling Darel Russell out of the Roots Hall trip, Hughes was asked to play a slightly unfamiliar role of shielding the back four as the defensive midfielder in the midfielder diamond.
"I have played there a couple of times. The sitting midfielder role is somewhere I haven't played a great deal but to get in the team obviously you'd play anywhere so I was happy first and foremost that we won the game and obviously to be involved."
With Russell back in contention for the visit of Oldham Athletic and Matt Gill back in training, competiton for places is once again rife in midfield and throughout the squad.
"It's all over the park that people want to get in, obviously to the first 11 but that is up to the manager to make those decisions. The people in the team know that if they don't perform then there's people behind them who can come in and take their place."
City come into the game against Dave Penney's Oldham having won their last five home league matches and unbeaten in the league at home under Lambert but Hughes has warned off any talk of complacency amongst the squad.
"You can't be complacent. When we go out there we don't think about the five games we've won before that, we just go out and focus on whoever is it we are playing and that is what we will do tomorrow."
Tickets are available for the visit of Oldham Athletic to Carrow Road by logging on to online ticketing, by calling 0844 826 1902, or in person at Carrow Road ticket office or the Canary Store in the Mall, Norwich.
