Norwich City column: Lost points at Blackburn Rovers makes it imperative to beat both Oxford United and Sheffield Wednesday at Carrow Road

It came as no great surprise to learn this week that Norwich City have thrown away the most points from winning positions so far this season. An eye-wateringly high 24 of them, in fact.

The latest came in the most painful manner at the weekend up in Lancashire at Ewood Park on Saturday. A goal up and with a man advantage, Johannes Hoff Thorup’s side surrendered what could have been a priceless three points in the play-off race in catastrophic fashion, conceding with pretty much the last kick of the game.

I wrote last week about how it was great to see Hoff Thorup give so many chances to young players, and it really is, but there is no doubt that lack of experience has proven costly at times.

Keep possession, take the ball to the corner, kill the game. When protecting such an important lead there is no need to take players on and give away possession cheaply. It really was criminal.

But as the saying goes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and I have no doubt this team will learn from these experiences, eventually. They certainly need to if we are to become a force to be reckoned with at this level once again.

In the context of this campaign, the setback against Blackburn leaves our top six hopes hanging by a thread with 11 games to go. We may only be four points behind West Brom in sixth, with the Baggies still to visit Carrow Road, but there are so many teams fighting for the final two play-off spots. Some of whom, like Frank Lampard’s Coventry, are absolutely flying.

To keep those dreams alive, it feels imperative that we pick up maximum points from our next two matches, back-to-back home games against Oxford United and Sheffield Wednesday.

Oxford head to Carrow Road with one of the worst away records in the league, and a strong win would certainly go some way to helping ease the disappointment of last week.