NORWICH'S on loan defender Ryan Bertrand insists derby day defeat has not inflicted a mortal blow on the Canaries' Championship survival bid.Ipswich's 3-2 win at Portman Road on Sunday edged Norwich ever closer League One and a place in English football's third tier for the first time in 49 years.

NORWICH'S on loan defender Ryan Bertrand insists derby day defeat has not inflicted a mortal blow on the Canaries' Championship survival bid.

Ipswich's 3-2 win at Portman Road on Sunday edged Norwich ever closer League One and a place in English football's third tier for the first time in 49 years.

But the 19-year-old Chelsea starlet is adamant Norwich remain up for the fight with no-one inside the corridors of Carrow Road prepared to raise the white flag.

“Everyone's positive,” he said. “We don't even think about relegation. To be honest, the word hasn't even come up in the changing room. Everyone knows we can get a result when Reading come here. They're not in the best of form. Although we've lost at Ipswich we've been performing all right and the boys are more than confident we will win on Monday night.

“As we're not playing on Saturday, everyone will sit and watch the results coming in on Soccer Saturday but this week the results didn't really go our way. But we've got two games left and we're confident we can get six points. You want everyone around you to lose but regardless of the scores, the boys are still confident we can stay up.”

Bertrand admitted City had let Ipswich back in the game after a bright start.

“We are massively disappointed,” he said. “The boys started off really well, taking the lead, and we seemed to be in control. But it's about momentum in football and I guess the momentum swung away from us and we could never properly get it back. But the boys dug in and did well and we had a few very bad decisions that went against us.”

Bertrand admitted Giovani Dos Santos' penalty, awarded when Town striker Kevin Lisbie went tumbling over goalkeeper David Marshall, was the key moment of the match.

“They say you don't want to keep blaming referees but these are crucial mistakes,” he said. “For the penalty, he's gone through, Marshy's turned away and he's run into Marshy. The ref hasn't given anything, the ball has gone out, the ref is looking at the linesman and he's not given anything, then he blew for the penalty. Surely Marshy needs the yellow card or red card if he thought it was a foul, or that he was stopping a scoring chance.”

Bertrand largely nullified the threat of Mexican star Giovani when he ventured into his territory.

“When he stayed out wide I did okay, but he likes to get in the holes and it's quite hard to get near him,” he said. “It was a good battle. I enjoyed playing against him. I think it's the third time I've played against him now. This season has been a good learning process. My performances started well then I had a bit of a dip, but now I feel I've come back really well towards the run-in at the most important time.”

Though Chelsea constantly monitor Bertrand's progress, where he will be playing next season is, like City's fate, still undecided.

“We haven't spoken about anything. I'm just playing my football and the future will take care of itself,” he said. While Bertrand recovered from a calf problem to face Town, winger Lee Croft revealed he will need to undergo treatment for a similar injury ahead of Reading's visit. Unfortunately my calf seized up, so hopefully it isn't too bad,” said Croft. “We think it might be a strain so we just have to monitor it over the next week. I've not played much football really and to come back into a game, maybe it's just put a bit of strain on it.”