Russell Martin scored in the final moments of a fantastic game of football to earn Norwich City a draw.

The result means that Norwich extend the record of never losing back to back games under the management of Paul Lambert.

The game probably ranks up there with the likes of QPR, Leeds and Ipswich Town.

The Canaries might easily have won the game, but the woodwork, the referee and some goalmouth indecision robbed them.

The Bluebirds opened their account with a fantastic goal by debutante Jon Parkin, after only seven minutes.

A route one goal with the long ball from their keeper, Tom Heaton, nodded down by Parkin to Michael Chopra, who chested the ball straight back to Parkin.

The resulting half-volley left Norwich keeper, John Ruddy no chance. Even if Ruddy had got a hand to the ball, it had been struck with such power the ball had nowhere else to go.

A decade or so ago would have brought applause from both sets of supporters. Instead, people remarked that Ruddy stood no chance.

An appeal for a Norwich penalty was turned down by referee Keith Stroud, who showed Norwich no favour in his last game at Pride Park.

There has been a lot of internet chat about Holt going down too easily, especially in the wake of Neil Warnock's accusation of cheating the ref by Holt.

Now people wonder if referees are not influenced by football's biggest whinger of all time.

That, along with a couple of indecisive moments in front of gaol, hitting the crossbar and shooting straight at Heaton kept Cardiff in front for most of the game.

As anticipated, Craig Bellamy was given a round of applause from the home support. There was definitely a sense of begrudging appreciation, rather than the enthusiastic welcome, but it was still warmer than the one given to David Marshall when he ran along the touchline to warm up.

Bellamy started off rather well but soon started complaining to Keith Stroud whenever he was robbed of possession.

Bellamy very narrowly avoided a sending off for a second bookable offence after deliberately pushin Leon Barnett into the hoardings after Barnett shielded the ball allowing it to go out for a goal kick and denying Bellamy a scoring chance.

One must wonder, if Keith Sroud was not so afraid of the publicity that would surrond a Bellamy red card after his recent arresty in Cardiff. There was a long "talking to", but Stroud bottled out of doing the right thing.

That wasn't the only incident when Stroud showed favour to the Welsh visitors. One must wonder if the FA bother to take any action of poor referees. Apart from putting them in charge of Championship games, that is.

It was starting to look as though Cardiff were going to be the first team to beat Norwich for the double when a missed attempt by Wilbraham fell just right for Russell Martin to turn into the net.

The board went up to illustrate that even the fourth official wanted the home side to lose by adding five minutes for "stoppages".

Enough time for nails to be chewed to the quick as Norwich piled on the pressure to get a winner., but were held off by a determined Welsh defence.

The draw means little change in the table, apart from Leeds moving up to equal points with Cardiff and Norwich but trailing on goal difference.

Photo: Action Images

Norwich City Polls