Alex Neil refuses to blame John Ruddy

Norwich City manager Alex Neil has insisted that John Ruddy was not to blame for West Ham United's late equaliser during Saturday's Premier League encounter at Carrow Road.

It appeared that the visiting Canaries would be heading back to Norfolk with all three points, but in stoppage time Ruddy's attempted punched clearance hit West Ham striker Andy Carroll and then fell kindly for Cheikhou Kouyate to salvage a 2-2 draw for the home side.

However, rather than criticise his goalkeeper, Neil instead claimed that the situation should have been dealt with better by the whole team.

"If you actually look at the goal John punches it and it rebounds off someone into someone else's path," the Eastern Daily Press quotes Neil as saying.

"You need a little bit of fortune at times and unfortunately we didn't get that. I wouldn't blame John. He made some crucial saves. I just think we could have defended it better."

The result has left Norwich 12th in the standings, having collected nine points from their opening seven games.