Roeder expected Canaries romp March 22 2008
Norwich's 5-1 Coca-Cola Championship drubbing of strugglers Colchester came as absolutely no surprise to manager Glenn Roeder - even though the Canaries have previously been short of goals.
Roeder's men emerged from a run of five games without a win as a Jamie Cureton hat-trick against his old club inspired them to a thumping victory at Carrow Road.
The manager said: "I think that was a result waiting to happen.
"We could have easily scored two or three goals in our two previous games - but unfortunately we didn't take the chances we created and lost both of them.
"The boys never lost their self-belief and they got a deserved victory today.
"This was just one of those days when everything seemed to go right for us.
"You don't often get that in football and when it does happen you have got to enjoy it."
Norwich made a perfect start, Jon Otsemobor scoring his first goal for the club after just six minutes.
They were two up midway through the first half when Cureton opened his account from close range after good work from Daren Huckerby.
Kevin Lisbie pulled one back for Colchester just before the break following a poor header from Jason Shackell, but Norwich dominated the second half and never looked back after Cureton's 55th-minute penalty had restored their two-goal advantage.
The Norwich striker duly completed his hat-trick just before the end, with Dion Dublin's lob in injury time concluding the scoring.
Roeder said of Cureton: "Jamie has done what he is paid for today and has done more than enough to deserve his wages.
"But he's also missed a few recently as well - and if he fails to convert in front of an open goal then I'm going to criticise him. He's taken his chances today - and I'm very pleased with that.
Colchester manager Geraint Williams felt the match summed up his struggling side's fortunes this season.
"Watching that game was like watching our season, in a nutshell," he said.
"We played well at times, created some good chances - but at the other end we defended poorly and conceded five goals.
"Then one of our players limps off towards the end through injury. It's very disappointing, but we just have not been good enough defensively today - and we were punished by a good Norwich side.
"Seeing Jamie score three like that was no surprise, because if you give him chances like that he will stick them away.
"What we should have done was deny him the chances - but we couldn't do that. The lads gave their all but it wasn't good enough."
Colchester now look doomed to relegation, but Williams is refusing to give up the fight.
"Until it is mathematically impossible for us to stay up, we won't accept anything", he said.
"There are a lot of points to play for as well as our pride, and whenever the players cross that white line for Colchester there will be a job to be done."