Norwich City 1
Mooney 53

Argyle 0

ARGYLE are still three wins from Championship safety after defeat by their fellow strugglers. With just seven games to go, the evidence suggests that their fate will not be decided until the season's dying moment.

They will have to dig deep and find more than they found at Carrow Road, where David Mooney's early second-half header settled matters in favour of the team which is now a single point behind the Pilgrims: had the result been the other way around, the difference would have been seven points.

Not that there was much chance of that. Norwich, now with three wins from their last four matches, were deserved winners. Sometimes, you have to hold up your hands and admit you were second best.

The afternoon had started with good news arriving in the form of the team-sheet which showed that leading goalscorer Paul Gallagher and on-loan Manchester United centre-back Craig Cathcart had recovered from injuries that precluded their involvement in Tuesday's 1-0 blind robbery defeat at Swansea.

A third change saw the inclusion of left-back Chris Barker after missing two games on compassionate leave. Craig Noone, Krisztián Timár and Gary Sawyer were the three men to make way for the reshuffle.

Norwich, with impressive successive Tuesday-night wins at Queens Park Rangers and home to Cardiff under their belts, showed no changes to the 16 that beat the Welsh play-off stick-ons 2-0.

Their attack was led by Mooney and Alan Gow, types that, to be fair looked more to be Cathcart's cup of tea, than meat and drink to Timár.

For all the pre-match assertions from both camps that it was just another game with three points on offer and there would be still seven matches to play afterwards, there was no getting away from the hype surrounding what sloppy journalists would instantly call 'a six-pointer'.

Certain, Alan Partridge and his mate on the Norwich PA saw fit to introduce the game as 'huge', before downgrading it at the end of the same sentence to 'big' - an adjective used several times more before the 'big' kick-off.

If the size of the occasion had got to the players beforehand, there was little evidence of it in the opening exchanges.

As the match progressed, though, it was possible to smell a little bit of tension, not least of all in Argyle's anywhere clearances, and Norwich's snatching of goalscoring opportunities.

Norwich's main threat seemed to be down their right side, while Argyle appeared to be trying to get Jamie Mackie going on the same flank. Largely, though, the first 15 minutes witnessed a battle for midfield control in which the number of unforced errors by each side was matched by ball-winning tackles.

The first shot on target that was not blocked by some seriously committed blocking fell to City midfielder Sammy Clingan, but Romain Larrieu pouched the grubber with comfort.

Argyle survived a much more potent threat when Wes Hoolahan spotted Gow's intelligent diagonal run and slotted Mooney's pass into him ahead of David Gray for a shot back across goal that had Larrieu on toast but dribbled wide of the post.

The genuine chance, which had developed from a handball that the referee had failed to spot, spurred Norwich's efforts and kept the Pilgrims' defenders keen as a slew of corners followed. None of them led to a clear chance on the Argyle goal.

It was a risky policy to allow Norwich so much possession so high up the pitch, and what Argyle needed was either (a) a period with the ball at their feet, or (b) half-time to arrive so Luggy could sort them out, especially with regard to the Norwich right, where Lee Croft was given Barker a testing return to action.

They achieved (b) but not before they had created their first opportunity of the game, which came from the breakdown of a Gallagher free-kick after Ashley Barnes had drawn a yellow-card earning foul by Gary Doherty, with Gray lashing a shot wide of the near-post.

Gow then fired wide when free in the penalty area, and Norwich nearly made a fatal break when Croft galloped down the right flank and found support from the overlapping Jon Otsemobor , who crossed low and hard all the way across the Argyle penalty area a smidgen too far ahead of Gow and Mooney.

Argyle made an explosive start to the second half, Gallagher threading the ball through for Mackie straight from the kick-off for a low, hard shot that Norwich goalkeeper David Marshall spilled but grasped at the second attempt.

Mackie began the half up front alongside Barnes in a new-look Argyle line-up which seemed to give the Pilgrims a lot more quality possession.

They won their first corner of the game, which had Marshall scrambling at his near-post before Judge's piledriver was blocked.

From such promise came heartache. Gray tried to win a goal-kick by forcing the ball off an opponent but succeeded only in giving away a corner.

Clingan took it and found Doherty at the far-post for a headed knock-back that Mooney dispatched with a firm downward nod. Any inquest would have to address Larrieu's uncertain positioning and the fact that Mooney was totally unmolested as he put Norwich ahead.

With the wind in their sails, Norwich were even more of a menace than they had been in the first half, but Argyle did not help themselves settle.

Croft went close with a drive that Larrieu parried around the post after Cathcart was caught in possession as he tried to dribble the ball out of defence.

Rory Fallon came on for Barnes and was immediately in the thick of things. A cross from Barker ricocheted around the Norwich penalty area before the ball hit the Kiwi's shins and lolloped just wide.

Jim Paterson was also added to the mix to give more attacking options, and Argyle inevitably became defensively stretched.

Norwich could have sealed the points with 15 minutes to go when substitute David Carney crossed for Mooney, whose free-header in the centre of goal was straight at Larrieu, who held it easily.

Argyle saved their best until last, playing some neat football, and, if they had not been a goal behind, you would have fancied them to pick the Norwich lock.

The home side had something to hang on to, though, and hang on they did, even with losing Darel Russell to a second yellow card in injury-time.

It is getting tight.

Rick Cowdery

Norwich City (4-4-2): 1 David Marshall; 2 Jon Otsemobor, 12 Gary Doherty (capt), 4 Jason Shackell, 21 Ryan Bertrand; 7 Lee Croft (22 Adrian Leijer 90), 20 Darel Russell, 8 Sammy Clingan, 14 Wes Hoolahan (11 David Carney half-time); 18 David Mooney, 17 Alan Gow (27 Cody McDonald 85).Substitutes (not used): 19 Simon Lappin, 23 Stuart Nelson (gk).

Sent off: Russell 90.

Booked: Doherty 42, Mooney 53, Russell 65.

Argyle (4-4-2): 1 Romain Larrieu; 33 David Gray, 22 Craig Cathcart, 19 Marcel Seip, 15 Chris Barker (3 Jim Paterson 71); 25 Jamie Mackie, 28 Carl Fletcher, 2 Karl Duguid (capt), 23 Alan Judge (17 Craig Noone 85); 11 Paul Gallagher, 24 Ashley Barnes (14 Rory Fallon 62). Substitutes (not used): 5 Krisztián Timár, 6 Chris Clark.

Booked: Seip 7.

Referee: Fred Graham (Essex).

Attendance: 25,064 (400 away est.).