WES Hoolahan hailed a crucial victory after playing a starring role in Norwich City's 3-1 success over Nottingham Forest at Carrow Road on Saturday.

The playmaker crafted the opening for Jonny Howson to fire the home side in front just before half-time, before effectively securing all three points with a 59th minute penalty for the Canaries' third.

Hoolahan's strike marked his first at Carrow Road for over two years, and after the game he told Norwich City TV: "It's a massive win because going into the game we knew how important it was to come away with the three points.

"We created a lot of chances in the first half, so it was nice to go in at half-time 1-0 up. It was a great finish for Jonny Howson to take it first time, and it caught the goalkeeper off-guard.

"We knew the second half was going to be tough, but we came out and scored two great goals. It's a great feeling to score in any game, although today was about the three points so that was more important."

The result saw Alex Neil's team gain ground on a number of their Sky Bet Championship promotion rivals, with the gap to the top two cut to just two points once more.

Hoolahan believes City have what it takes to achieve their goal during the final seven games of the regular campaign, commenting: "It's very tight at the top, so it's exciting.

"A number of teams can get promoted, and it will probably go down to the wire on the last day of the season. That's the way it's going, but hopefully we can kick on now.

"We were in this position four years ago, so the experienced players will help those who haven't to guide us forward. We'll have a little break, then be looking to get three points away to Brighton."

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