Alex Neil was delighted as Norwich deservedly beat Milwall 4-1 at the Den on Saturday to make it seven wins from eight Championship matches.

Norwich scored four goals within 22 minutes either side of half-time, starting with an excellent long-range effort from Jonny Howson and a penalty from Gary Hooper.

The Canaries continued their dominance after the interval as Wes Hoolahan capitalised on poor defending to make it 3-0 and an excellent team goal gave Howson his second of the match, before substitute Lee Gregory scored a consolation for the home side from the spot.

Norwich are now fifth in the Championship but just a point from top in a congested promotion race, leaving Neil pleased by their recovery from a surprise midweek defeat to Wigan.

“We were disappointed because we felt we let ourselves down (against Wigan) — you’ve got to deserve the right to play, win those battles. Today we worked a lot harder, I thought our intensity was back.

“We had a wee bit of apprehension in the first half-hour because you see how much it means to everybody, as we are getting to the business end of the season now so you can not afford to slip up.”

Talking of the Milwall penalty he said: “It was very soft I was really disappointed with it because we have pride ourselves on clean sheets, and we have given up a clean sheet which is frustrating because I feel we merited it.

“I thought in an attacking sense we lacked that threat in the week but we had it today — we’re going to have to do that every game of the season.”

The Lions now sit further entrenched in the Championship relegation places, leaving Ian Holloway under pressure.

There were notable boos whenever the manager left his technical area.

Meanwhile the Canaries, currently the form team in the Championship, can look forward to an important home clash against fellow promotion-chasers Derby County next weekend.