NORWICH CITY (0) 0 CHELTENHAM TOWN (2) 3 (Naylor 30,45, McAuley 83)

Worthington (League) Cup first round September 10, 2002

GRAHAM ALLNER lasted for only 32 games in the Cheltenham hot seat, but this was a memorable night for the club and undoubtedly the finest moment of Allner's brief tenure.

Cheltenham had narrowly lost to the Canaries over two legs in the same competition three years earlier, but they embarrassed their Championship opponents with a stunning performance in this one-legged tie.

Nigel Worthington's side were lying in third place in the race for promotion to the Premiership, and League One outfit Cheltenham were without a win since their play-off victory at the end of the previous campaign.

David Nielsen missed early chances for Norwich and two first half goals from Tony Naylor silenced the majority of the Carrow Road crowd.

Naylor's first came on the half hour after a defensive header intended for his goalkeeper by Malky Mackay.

Naylor stole in ahead of the now England keeper Robert Green and unleashed a well-struck shot into the net from a tight angle.

Welsh international Iwan Roberts came close to equalising with a powerful header, but Naylor doubled the Robins' lead on the stroke of half-time, drilling home from the edge of the area after a slide rule pass from the excellent Michael Duff.

Norwich started the second half purposefully as they looked to battle their way back into the tie.

Roberts again came close, but Steve Book's handling was impeccable and the Cheltenham keeper also denied Alex Notman.

Hugh McAuley sealed the biggest upset of the round with eight minutes remaining.

The midfielder, who was released by Steve Cotterill and subsequently re-signed by Allner, curled home a delightful shot after Russell Milton had touched a free-kick to him inside the area.

The free-kick had been awarded after Green contrived to pick up a back-pass from Mackay when the whole of Carrow Road expected him to clear with his feet.

The Robins were given a much deserved standing ovation from the entire ground and even Norwich director Delia Smith clapped and waved to the Cheltenham fans as they left the ground.

Allner was understandably delighted with his side's performance and hoped the game would mark a turnaround in league form.

He told the Echo: "We did it on merit and Norwich were very kind in their comments afterwards.

"Their first-team coach, Doug Livermore, said we'd deserved it and we've threatened to do this in the other matches we've played. We took our chances, we've kept a clean sheet and it wasn't a fluke result.

"It was a fair reflection of the way the game went. They didn't overly threaten us and we kept the ball well at times. We set out to try to frustrate them by keeping as much possession as we could.

"The defence played very, very well, the midfield worked extremely hard and the front men produced. It was totally a team effort."

Worthington accused his players of showing Cheltenham disrespect and demanded an immediate improvement as the Canaries were about to take on their arch enemies Ipswich the following Sunday. They drew 1-1 at Portman Road and went on to finish eighth in the table.

Norwich City: R Green; S Nedergaard, D Kenton, M Mackay, A Drury; A Notman, P Mulryne (N Emblen 87), G Holt, C Easton (P Heckingbottom 62); I Roberts, D Nielsen (C Llewellyn 70). Subs not used: P Crichton, D Russell.

Cheltenham Town: S Book; N Howarth, R Walker, M Duff, J Victory; H McAuley, J Finnigan, M Yates, R Milton; J Alsop, T Naylor. Subs not used: S Higgs, J Brough, P Brayson, M Devaney, L Williams.

Referee: G. Hegley (Herts)

Attendance: 13,285