STEVEN Whittaker believes his 89th minute equalising strike was just reward for Norwich City's efforts as they took a point from their meeting with promotion rivals Derby County at the iPro Stadium.

The Rams went ahead on the stroke of half-time through Johnny Russell before Cameron Jerome levelled things shortly after the restart following a slick move from the Canaries.

Former City striker Chris Martin then won a penalty which he duly converted before Whittaker's late heroics, and after the game he told told canaries.co.uk: "It would have been a travesty if we’d taken nothing from the game, especially the way we played in the second half when we had them under constant pressure.

"Luckily we managed to get the goal in the end that gave us a point. Derby were defending their box and we had constant pressure where if they cleared it we kept picking it up.

"We kept putting it in there and getting little half-chances here and there. The ball just dropped to me and I thought I’d have a swing at it, managed to get a good connection, and it hit the bottom corner.

"We could have maybe stolen it at the end; Cam [Cameron Jerome] has probably hit his volley too well and it’s gone just over the bar but over the course of the 90 minutes we definitely deserved something out of the game."

The latest result means City have now collected seven points from their last three matches following a testing spell where they struggled for consistency, and Whittaker added: "It’s a long season, and we were disappointed with the blip we had.

"We still felt the performances were there but the results weren’t coming our way, and we were getting punished for our mistakes. We’re going away from Derby a little bit disappointed we’ve only got a point, so that shows how far we’ve come.

"We’re on a good run in the last three fixtures and we’re going to look to continue that. We’re comfortable with where we are and how we’re playing, and we’re looking forward to the Christmas period as we've got some good fixtures coming up we believe we can win."

WHITTAKER: A DESERVED POINT

More Club

#NCFC

Principal Partners

Primary Partners