Norwich City Football Club

• Nickname:Canaries
• Founded:1902
• Manager:Chris Hughton

• Ground:Carrow Road
• Capacity:21468

Earnie blow stuns City

18 Jan 2007 - 10:26:17

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Norwich City's slim hopes of securing promotion have suffered a major blow with the news that top scorer Robert Earnshaw could miss the rest of the season with a groin injury.

The 16-goal striker broke down in training last week and missed the weekend defeat by Plymouth Argyle.

The Wales international has undergone surgery in a bid to cure the problem and Canaries boss Peter Grant has revealed the injury looks set to sideline his star striker until the end of the campaign.

"Unfortunately this is going to be a case of months rather than weeks for Earnie," he told the club's official website.

"He had an operation on Tuesday and the injury is similar to that suffered by Robert Green, where the ligament has come away from the bone. But it's not as bad as Robert's hopefully.

"I would be delighted if I got him back by the end of April, but that depends on how his recovery goes.

"However, it could be next season, we'll just have to wait and see. Obviously Earnie is absolutely gutted, as am I."