Worthington (League) Cup 1st Round - 10/9/02 - Carrow Road
Norwich City 0 (0)
Cheltenham Town (2) 3 (Naylor 30,45, McAuley 83)
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 First Division 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 Division Two 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 Green and unleashed a well struck shot into the net from a tight angle.
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 resigned by Allner, curled home a delightful shot after 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 that the game would mark a turnaround in league form. 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 8th in the table.
Norwich: Green, Nedergaard, Drury, Kenton, Mackay, Holt, Notman, Mulryne (Emblen 87), Roberts, Nielsen (Llewellyn 70), Easton (Heckingbottom 62).
Cheltenham: Book, Howarth, Victory, Finnigan, Walker, M.Duff, Milton, McAuley, Alsop, Naylor, Yates.
Referee: G. Hegley (Herts)
Attendance: 13,285