Can you hear the Sheffield moan, whoa, oh!

Manger-less Sheffield United came to Carrow Road with one draw and three defeats to their away record, and on the back of a home defeat to Hull just days earlier.

The reason for the defeat, according to caretaker boss John Carver, was bad decisions by referee Phil Crossley.

Now Crossley has made an unsavoury name for himself over the festive season, but he made as many errors against Norwich City, although in less vulnerable area.

Having said that, a free kick awarded for an Askou foul on former Norwich loan player, Ched Evans resulted in Andy Reid curling one around the wall and into the unguarded top corner.

The lead was swiftly cancelled out will the Sheffield boys were still drinking their cups of lard in the stands, when Michael Nelson beautifully headed home another spot ball taken after a foul on Chris Martin.

Norwich City's habit of the defence standing off and allowing attackers too much time and room left plenty of manoeuvre for a dummy to leave Richard Cresswell all the time he heeded to put the Blades in front once again.

And that was how things stood at half time.

The second half kicked off with Wes Hoolahan coming on as substitute for Simeon Jackson who seemed to look a little out of place in the first 45 minutes.

On the 62nd minute David Fox was replaced by Anthony McNamee, and now City had pace along both flanks, while Korey Smith and Russell Martin went from wing backs to their more normal positions, and suddenly Norwich looked far more assertive when they went forward.

Then came the controversial claim by John Carver that Grant Holt "cheated". Well Mr Carver, if you are not yet aware that every striker will go to ground if contact is made, then it is you that is naive, not Grant Holt a cheat.

Nick Montgomery was shown a yellow card for the foul on Holt, and Crossley was only a few feet behind the incident, not 50 yards away. Crossley did not hesitate as he pointed to the spot, and Wes Hoolahan, in his 100th appearance made no mistake about putting the ball beyond Steve Sominsen's reach.

There was a brilliant recovery from John Ruddy as he back-pedalled to deflect a clever lob from Ched Evans from almost the half way line. There was no doubt that the ball was going in, so Ruddy saved the day as well as that ball.

There are claims from the Sheffield side that a handball incident was ignored when it happened in the City area. Well, Mr Carver, it was so frenetic it was probably ball-to-hand, if at all, but not one that invites a spot kick.

Alternatively, when a hand is seen to contact a cross ball, courtesy of Kyle Bentley trying to spoil a Korey Smith, Chris Martin one-two, then the penalty spot was indicated, with Wes Hoolahan going the opposite way to his first goal, completely outfoxing Simonsen, who went to his right again.

Now it was 3-2 and the tail was up while Sheffield players, who had been arguing amongst themselves from the very start, turned their efforts onto harming the boys in yellow.

Zak Whitbread made a rare appearance for City as he came on for McNamee as it looked like Lambert wanting to shut up shop.

Nelson made a protest about a high challenge that went unanswered, but a later dispute in time added on resulted in Andy Quinn landing a punch on Russell Martin in full view of Phil Crossley. And STILL the Sheffield players mobbed the ref in a vain attempt to influence his decision.

For one last time Ruddy denied a brilliant shot from Ched Evans and finally, Grant Holt set Wes Hoolahan up to complete his ton up with a hat trick.

4-2 to City. Many Sheffiled players made straight for the tunnel with just a few going over to salute the travelling support and shake hands with their opponents.

Photo: Action Images

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