NCFC 25/26 • Walsall (H) - FA Cup

I attended this one with my neighbour who I didn't realise also has a season ticket, so I managed to find two seats together a bit higher up and near the away fans. We missed the first 10 minutes due to diabolical queues to get in - our pre-match pint in the Steam Packet meant we got there with plenty of time on any other day, but clearly not today (this is usually why I leave early to get there before the queues form). I have no problem with digital tickets but despite the upper tiers of the Barclay and River End not even being open, there were huge delays getting people inside. This was partly due to not all the turnstiles being open, but also probably due to people who don't normally come not being familiar with how to scan the ticket, however most people seemed to still have paper or printed tickets anyway and if people still don't know how to use their phones to pay or scan a ticket in 2026 then that's their own fault. Anyway, we finally made it in and luckily had seats at the end of a row so didn't need to ask anyone to move.

While Walsall may be in League Two, they're sitting third and have been pushing for promotion all season, so considering Norwich have been teetering on the brink of relegation all season, it may not have seen quite the mismatch of level that it may have seemed, as there's still a chance we play together in League One next season, so a banana peel loss wasn't off the table here.

Luckily, we saw out a comfortable 5-1 win. Matěj Jurásek bagged his first goal for the club which will hopefully give him some confidence, Makama made it 2-0 ten minutes later, and completed his hat-trick ten minutes into the second half with two more goals, the first of which came from a love ball in from Jurásek and a flick on from Slimane. Walsall got one back with a quality strike (only their first or second shot all game) that deserved the applause it got from myself a few other Norwich fans, and we started to worry if they may start a storming comeback, but none other than Tony Springett scored his first goal for the club too in the final minutes to make it 5 for Norwich, with a ball forward from Liam Gibbs of all people and a lovely touch from Springett rounding our the afternoon. It was the second 5-1 FA Cup win for me in two days as I saw Chelsea beat Charlton at The Valley yesterday.

Not only does a 5-1 win do a lot for the confidence in the squad, but it's great to see Jurásek get a goal after so much criticism, and I was chuffed for Springett after it came out that he'd had spinal surgery that had kept him out for a couple of years, he definitely deserved it after he's given 100% every time he's played in recent weeks and it was great to see the reception his goal got from the crowd as well as his teammates and the manager. It was good to finally see Kvistgaarden play a full 90 minutes too, despite not scoring. Makama's hat-trick may help cement his place as our number one forward, which is probably a good thing given the quite surprising news that broke after the game that Josh Sargent "declared himself unavailable" for the game due to transfer interest. It's already caused quite the stir amongst fans online as Sargent is held in such high regard and has frequently been praised for his professionalism in relation to transfer interest in the past, so it will be disappointing if his legacy gets tarnished by forcing a move now, especially given the position the club is in. I know he'll be wanting to get in that World Cup squad, but honestly, it feels like that ship has sailed. So we will have to wait and see what happens there and he's still a Norwich player come the end of the transfer window, and if he is, if he can redeem himself.