Ex-Atherton lad who is making Premier League impact
7:30pm Monday 6th February 2012 in Sport By Marc Iles
ANTHONY Pilkington put Norwich’s high-tempo victory over Wanderers down to the plummeting temperatures at Carrow Road.
For while the Canaries were eager to make up for their midweek thumping at Sunderland, the former Atherton Collieries striker reckoned his team-mates didn’t want to stop running for fear of feeling the cold.
Pitchside thermometers had the temperature at minus five but the league table gave Pilkington a warm glow as he saw Norwich climb up into ninth place.
“We’re not allowed to wear gloves – even in training – and the same applies to woolly hats and scarves ... and as for snoods, don’t even think about it,” he said. “To be honest it’s not that cold, and when you’re a footballer you’re always running around to keep yourself warm. And if you’re still cold after doing that, maybe you’re not running around enough.
“Under-armour is the most you can get out of the manager, and we all wear short-sleeved shirts as well, but what you wear isn’t important – it’s performances which win you points, and that performance against Bolton spoke for itself.
“Three points is the best insulation against the cold, and you can tell by the way we fought for each other that the team spirit here is massive.”
Norwich's achievement was made all the more impressive by the fact they lost their only two recognised centre halves, Daniel Ayala and Zak Whitbread, inside the first 40 minutes.
That meant full-backs Kyle Naughton and Russell Martin were forced to play out of position in the middle, with Elliott Bennett – once of Bury – filling in as an auxhillary defender.
“We had a right winger playing right-back, two right-backs playing at centre half against Bolton’s big men – I mean, Kyle Naughton is only 3ft 4ins and he was winning headers against big centre forwards like Kevin Davies,” Pilkington said.
“But we were always in control and we could have won by four or five. It was a new experience for us, having to bounce back after getting turned over at Sunderland, but we showed we’re more than capable of playing at this level.”
Pre-season predictions of doom and gloom have never looked like coming true for the Canaries, and Pilkington agrees that a comfortable mid-table finish is the least Paul Lambert’s men deserve.
“A lot has been made of our team spirit, and you need look no further than today for a prime example,” he added.
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