With their eighth stoppage-time goal of the season Norwich overcame Reading 2-1 at Carrow Road and move up to third in the English Championship. Norwich boss Paul Lambert insisted his side fully deserved their 2-1 injury-time win over the Royals who had to play the last 25 minutes with ten men.

Lambert said: "I thought we were excellent and deserved to win the game. Even when it was 11 versus 11, we were in the ascendancy.

"I have got a great belief in the lads that they will always keep going right until the last kick of the game. What you saw today proved that again.

"It's not down to pot luck. It's down to the never-say-die attitude of the players and how much they want to win games.

"It wasn't easy for us because Reading came and matched our system and tried to hit us on the counter attack.

"It was difficult to play against, but I thought we would have won a lot more convincingly if it hadn't been for their goalkeeper, who was excellent."

Lambert was also quick to praise his skipper, Grant Holt.

He added: "I thought Grant deserved his goal. He had a few chances earlier in the match and didn't put them away, but it's a lot more difficult than people think when you are running through and see the whites of the keeper's eyes.

"Grant doesn't dwell on things like that, he just keeps going and he got his reward in the end.

"For the goal, he got in front of the defender, which he's very good at doing, and stuck it away.

"He is an old-fashioned type of centre-forward, brought up in the old way, and he's never going to change, but I think that's one of the reasons the fans here love him."

For Reading boss Brian McDermott it was the frustration of seeing his side concede yet another late goal.

He said: "This keeps happening to us.

"In our last three games, we've let in one after 97 minutes against Cardiff, one after 82 against QPR, and now one after 94 today.

"It's really costing us, and it can't keep going on like this, we know that.

"But having said that, I am really proud of the players today for the way they performed against a very good side who I am sure are going to be close to going up at the end of the season. I really couldn't have asked any more from them.

"We found it difficult early on, but we managed to stay in the game, and after we got our goal, I thought we caused them a lot of problems. We could even have nicked it at 1-1 with only 10 men when Michail Antonio's effort was blocked.

"I feel very sorry for all the players, and especially Adam Federici, who was excellent throughout. He certainly didn't deserve to be on the losing side.

"It's going to be tough for us now (to mount a promotion challenge), but all we can do now is forget about this one and try and get the right result in our next game against Sheffield United.

"At this stage of last season, Blackpool had 40 points and ended up getting promotion. We've got 42, so there is still a chance."