Hughton rues Norwich finishing

Chris Hughton lamented Norwich City’s wasteful finishing and inability to stop James Collins’ opener in a 2-0 loss to West Ham.

Norwich created a number of chances at Upton Park on Tuesday, but were repeatedly frustrated by West Ham goalkeeper Adrian before Collins rose unmarked to head home and break the deadlock with six minutes left. Mohamed Diame then sealed victory for the hosts deep into injury time.

A fourth successive game without victory leaves Norwich just one point above the relegation zone in the Premier League and struggling in front of goal.

“I’m very, very frustrated,” Norwich boss Hughton said. “You know when you come here you’re going to be against a direct and physical game, and you have to be able to match them, and I thought for nearly all that game we were able to do that.

“But you’re relying on giving yourself a little bit of release, and you can only do that by scoring goals. I don’t think there’ll be anybody watching the game who will have felt that we didn’t attempt to get in the good areas, create chances.

“But it’s been a little bit too familiar this, where our level of performance has been good, we’ve been creating chances but not putting them away. That being the case you put more pressure on yourself.

“What we haven’t done well is on their first goal is, it’s a ball we dealt with very well all game but on that one occasion we didn’t.

“That’s what happens when you haven’t got a lead you think you deserve – you’re always putting yourself under that little bit of pressure, so I’m very frustrated.

“There was nothing wrong with the energy levels. If you saw the performance and analysed the performance, you’re up against a very strong, physical West Ham team that play the way that they do and you have to be able to match that. I thought we matched that for the whole of the game apart from the pinnacle moments.

“The second goal, at that stage the players are so desperate to get back (into it), they’re so frustrated we’re behind in a game we shouldn’t be, that they’ve gone for it in that last few minutes.

“But it was the first goal that hurt us, and the missed chances. They had chances but they had minimal chances. There’s no doubt the best chances fell to us – there’s no doubt about that. It’s very frustrating because it’s a game we shouldn’t have lost.

“Their keeper made some good saves. Unfortunately in our last two away games, both (opposition) keepers have ended up putting in man-of-the-match performances. So I think that shows we are creating chances. But if we are creating that amount of chances, we have got to be scoring goals.”