Norwich City manager Alex Neil has told his players to make the most of the opportunity to gain promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs.
The Canaries missed out on automatic promotion by three points, having lost 1-0 to rivals Middlesbrough and been held to a 1-1 draw by Rotherham United in their final three games.
But, rather than dwell on those slip-ups, Neil wants to see his City side make the most of a second chance, with motivation sure to be high when they face East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town in the play-off semi-finals.
The Scot, who has overseen 15 win in his 22 games in charge at Carrow Road, said ahead of the Saturday lunchtime showdown at Portman Road: “We gave ourselves an opportunity to go up automatically and to get there we probably had to win every game.
“We did exceptionally well to get to that stage, but now we have to go in the play-offs and we are looking at this as a second bite of the cherry.”
During the regular season, City did the double over Ipswich, winning 1-0 at Portman Road and 2-0 on home turf in Norfolk, with Lewis Grabban scoring in both games.
Meanwhile, Town boss Mick McCarthy is looking forward to the chance to try and upset their local rivals and bid for a return to the Premier League for the first time since the 2001/02 season.
Having seen his side sneak into the play-offs despite a final-day 3-2 loss at Blackburn Rovers, McCarthy admitted: “It’s a great chance for us after no-one gave us a cat-in-hell’s chance. We are relishing the prospect.”
Ipswich are 3.10 to win at home on Saturday, with the draw 3.25 and a Norwich victory 2.40.
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