NORWICH City players have been told to rediscover their spark from the word go tonight - or be punished again.Having battled their way through 90 minutes of wind and rain to come away from QPR with all three points a week ago, City were distinctly second best when they went down 2-0 at Blackpool on Saturday.

NORWICH City players have been told to rediscover their spark from the word go tonight - or be punished again.

Having battled their way through 90 minutes of wind and rain to come away from QPR with all three points a week ago, City were distinctly second best when they went down 2-0 at Blackpool on Saturday.

City went downhill after conceding the first goal early in the second half, manager Bryan Gunn accusing his team of losing their spark - but he believes it went in the opening minutes.

“The beginning of the game wasn't good,” he said. “The first 10 minutes for me was where we lost it because we let Blackpool get at least 10 crosses into our penalty box unopposed and that's not good enough.

“So whereas we saw the other night against QPR people were blocking things, blocking shots, closing people down, we lost that and that was part of the spark and that spark needs to start right from the first minute.

“That will be crucial again because Cardiff do play with wide players. I saw the goals at the weekend, it was crosses coming into the box and that will be an important part of the game.”

The Bluebirds sit fourth in the Championship table, having drawn 10 of their 17 away games, winning just four, which suggests Dave Jones' policy has been simple: win at home, get something away.

“That's the way it looks,” said Gunn. “David Jones has been around this league for many a year with different clubs, he is using his experience there.

“They still have the opportunity to go up there in the automatic slots, so they will probably be looking at Norwich City in our present position and they will be coming with confidence.

“If you look at their away record they have drawn 10, won four, lost three - they've caused problems for other teams away from home this season so I'm sure they'll try and cause problems for us.”

Chief scout John Deehan saw Cardiff lose 1-0 at Southampton and was at Ninian Park for their 3-0 win over Doncaster on Saturday - when Jay Bothroyd scored the second goal but left the field injured shortly afterwards.

“I believe they have potential injury problems, so we won't know until we see the team sheet tomorrow night what Cardiff City team will be out there,” said Gunn.

“But it doesn't matter what team they put out, we need to make sure our team are really focussed on the game and know the importance of it, which will be drummed in over the next two days.”

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