AN old ghost came back to haunt Wanderers at Carrow Road on a frustrating night Neil Lennon will quickly want to bury in the past.

Cameron Jerome – a transfer target for his last two predecessors – scored twice for Norwich as they went screaming back into the top two on Halloween night.

Both Owen Coyle and Dougie Freedman had tried unsuccessfully to bring the 28-year-old to Bolton and Lennon may feel after this toothless performance that someone with an equally keen eye for goal is a must if he is to lead the club out of trouble sooner rather than later.

Despite a bright start Wanderers fans would have watched the last four from behind the sofa as their side struggled to make a dent.

Chung-Yong Lee got a goal four minutes before the end that his first-half performance had warranted but otherwise it was frightfully tame stuff.

Wanderers played some half-decent football in the very early stages, particularly down the left wing where Chung-Yong and Tim Ream combined readily.

But it was Norwich who drew first blood, Jerome beating a static Matt Mills in the air and then spinning past the Whites defender to latch on to Kyle Lafferty’s through ball and finish calmly past Andy Lonergan.

Within a minute it was nearly double trouble. Nathan Redmond tore into the penalty box and picked out Steven Whittaker on the overlap – but his shot was blocked superbly by Dorian Dervite.

The early goal didn’t put the frights up Wanderers, who persisted with an attractive, short passing game. Mark Davies and Chung-Yong showed again why having them both in the side gives the midfield a totally different dimension.

The pair – starting a game together for only the fourth time this season – were the classiest players on show in the first half, which meant the spells where Wanderers did not continually feed them the ball were all the more frustrating.

Too often possession was played side-to-side, and dealt with comfortably by a Norwich back four guarded by the omnipresent Alexander Tettey.

But on the occasions either Davies or Chung-Yong got the ball in and around the Norwich box, the Canaries got themselves in a flap.

Davies drew one challenge from Gary O’Neil on the very edge of the box that presented an excellent chance for Wanderers to draw level – but while Neil Danns’ free-kick routine was ingenious, his blocked shot summed up a half in which home keeper John Ruddy was barely tested.

Norwich had been wasteful in possession after the goal but started to fancy themselves for a second goal in the final minutes before the break.

The lively Nathan Redmond was at the heart of most of their good work – cutting in off the right to drill a low shot just wide before hassling another mistake out of Mills to cause a moment of panic in the penalty area in stoppage time.

Having had such a consistent season to date, Mills was having his own personal horror show at Carrow Road – and things didn’t get much better for the big defender in the second half, where he seemed to be under constant pressure.

The interval brought us another surprise as captain Jay Spearing was substituted at the break for Liam Trotter – the midfielder’s first game since August 26 in the Capital One Cup at Crewe.

Once the game restarted the Canaries started to look every inch a side that had been playing Premier League football up until very recently.

After an audacious bit of skill from O’Neil on the edge of the box, Redmond found his way into the box via a one-two with Lafferty to rifle a shot off the inside of the post from an acute angle.

That had the home crowd up on their feet, and moments later the former Birmingham midfielder blasted another effort inches over the bar to keep the pressure up.

Something had to give, and on the hour mark, it did.

Once again it was Jerome capitalising on some statuesque defending, the striker peeling away from marker Beckford to head home O’Neil’s corner ahead of Dervite.

From there on in it was a simple equation for the home side.

For Chung-Yong and Davies in the first half, read Redmond in the second – every time the winger got the ball, Wanderers ducked for cover.

Even after Jerome was replaced by Lewis Grabban the shots continued to rain in on Andy Lonergan, who had to make a couple of very smart stops to prevent the scoreline from descending into nightmare territory.

Sub Max Clayton should have got the Whites back in it, played through by Davies he had a clear sight of Ruddy’s goal but pulled his shot frustratingly wide of the post.

By the time Chung-Yong ghosted in on a poor defensive header from Russell Martin to prod a consolation, it was too late.

Dervite poked one effort wide of goal with almost the last kick of the game but a point would have been undeserved, based on the way Wanderers had wilted in the second half.