Canaries cruise through

The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON
First Round Proper 
12.45pm, Saturday 7 November 2009
Winterfield Road, Paulton Rovers FC
Winning Clubs receive £18,000 from The FA's Prize Fund
Click here for the First Round results so far

Norwich City overwhelmed minnows Paulton Rovers at Winterfield Road, despite a spirited performance from the west country side.  Striker Chris Martin struck four times for the impressive Canaries, who cut loose in the closing stages.

Martin made the most of some tired legs in the Paulton backline, completing his hat-trick with a curled free kick on 83 minutes before firing his fourth, and Norwich’s seventh, two minutes later.

Earlier, Grant Holt had struck two first-half goals for the visitors, while Wes Hoolahan was also on target. The scoreline reflected a fine Norwich performance, but was perhaps harsh on a committed Paulton side who gave their all to the cause.

The Southern League Division One South and West side were celebrating the biggest day in the club’s 128 year history but always knew they would face a tough task against Norwich.

The Canaries are enjoying an impressive season, after an indifferent start, and under new manager Paul Lambert currently sit fifth in the League One standings.

Paulton started the game brightly but it was Norwich who came closest to opening the scoring with Martin’s stabbed effort striking the crossbar in the 11th minute. Just four minutes later the visitors took the lead through Holt when the Norwich captain made made the most of some slack Paulton marking to head Korey Smith’s right-footed cross past the helpless Kyle Phillips.

Fellow frontman Martin doubled the Canaries advantage in the 24th minute, beating the offside trap and slotting cooly past Phillips. And just three minutes before half-time, Holt all but sealed the tie with a free-header direct from a corner.

Paulton brought the best out of Norwich’s teenage goalkeeper Declan Rudd after the break, while at the other end Holt missed several chances to complete a hat-trick.

Hoolahan capped an impressive individual performance with a fine curled left-footed finish 16 minutes from time, as Paulton’s second half resistance finally came to an end.

Martin helped himself to a tap-in just three minutes later, before adding Norwich’s sixth and seventh goals in the dying stages.

Paulton Rovers
Kyle Phillips, Alex Ball, James Tyrell, Ollie Price, Charlie Rich, Ben Lacey, Josh Jeffries, Dan Cleverley(c) (Philip Waters, 39), Chris Lane (Rob Cousins, 55), Rob Claridge, Neikell Plummer (Dave Burborough, 75).
Unused Subs Courtney Redwood, Stuart Tovey, Josh Hemmings, Gareth Wright.

Norwich City
Declan Rudd, Jens Berthel Askou, Gary Doherty, Michael Nelson, Adam Drury (Rhoys Wiggins, 56), Darel Russel, Korey Smith, Simon Lappin (Cody McDonald, 68) Wes Hoolahan, Chris Martin, Grant Holt(c) (Owain Tudor-Jones, 68).
Unused Subs Michael Theoklitos, Tom Adeyemi, Paul McVeigh, Jamie Cureton.

Referee A R Hall
Assistant Referees N Radford & S J Martin
Fourth Official R East

Attendance 2070

Don't forget you can watch the following First Round Proper games live this weekend:

Oldham Athletic v Leeds United, 5.15pm, Saturday 7 November, streamed live on www.TheFA.com/FACupLive (available in the UK and Ireland only)
Northwich Victoria v Charlton Athletic, 1.30pm, Sunday 8 November on ITV1, followed by the Second Round Draw live at 3.35pm.