Alex Neil - Norwich City must 'eradicate fear factor'

Norwich City boss Alex Neil has won his first two games in charge

Norwich City boss Alex Neil has said he must remove the nerves around Carrow Road, after the 3-2 win over Cardiff.

The Canaries, who have won six of 13 Championship home games, almost squandered a 3-0 lead against the Bluebirds, but held on to make it two victories from two for new boss Neil.

"Those worries from earlier in the season creep back in towards the end of the game," he told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"We need to eradicate it, we need to get rid of that fear factor."

He added: "But even towards the end we had a few opportunities to put the game to bed."

Norwich's two previous home games had been much more straightforward, beating Millwall 6-1 and Huddersfield Town 5-0, but defeats against Reading and Charlton as well as five draws have produced tension among the Carrow Road crowd.

Neil, 33, who joined from Scottish Premiership club Hamilton Academical 10 days ago, is aware his seventh-placed side will need to be mentally strong if they are to move up the Championship table.

"Once we conceded that first goal, you could see the nerves creeping in," he said.

"That was disappointing. I don't think we did well enough defensively on two occasions and it cost us two goals.

"You get rid of it by defending properly first and foremost, because if you don't concede that first goal, it doesn't creep in.

"If we'd defended properly like we did in the first half, there wouldn't have been any issues."

Kyle Lafferty celebrated his first goal for Norwich to put City 2-0 up