Town boss Mick McCarthy has revealed that his players spent time practising penalties during training on Thursday. Saturday’s Championship play-off semi-final second leg at Carrow Road will go to spotkicks if the scores remain level after extra-time with away goals not counting.

He says the quality of the kicks varied as they always do: “Some good, some bad, some evil, some horrible. The usual.

“I said to them, you’ve only got one, no pressure, it could be worth 130 million quid if you fancy taking one!

“Me and TC were talking about it and you might have a technique for taking a penalty but when you’ve played 120 minutes and you’re knackered and the keeper’s suddenly looking twice as big as he was and the goal’s looking smaller than it was and the penalty spot seems about 30 yards away, that technique might go.

“So have something to fall back on, whether you put your head over it and hit it and hit the target and make him save it or otherwise.

“It’s only the top penalty takers that don’t have those anxieties, and they probably have them as well when they’re walking up, but not as many as the ordinary fella who never gets one to take.”

While the Blues outfielders will be honing their prowess from 12 yards, the Town keepers will be working with their coach Malcolm Webster and analyst Jordan Miles on the opposition’s penalty takers.

“Jordan will have all the penalties that they’ve taken and he’ll go through them with Malcolm and Bart and Gerks, of course because that could be the case at the time, and will show them where they put them.

“But I don’t know how many penalty takers they’ve had off the top of my head. If you think about us, Didz has taken them, Murph has taken them and that’s it.

“That tells you that when the other fellas are walking up they’ve never taken one and there’s that huge crowd making all that noise and the prize at stake, it’s a pretty nervy occasion for them.”

Perhaps significantly, Bartosz Bialkowski registered a notable shoot-out success against the Canaries when a Southampton player. The Pole saved three spotkicks as the Saints won 6-5 in a Johnstone's Paint Trophy southern area semi-final at St Mary's in the 2009/10 season, following a 2-2 draw.

Town don’t have the best record in shoot-outs, winning just two of their 10 in all competitions (2-1 at home to Luton in the Zenith Data Systems Cup in 1991 and 4-2 at Shrewsbury in August 2009, the most recent Town game to go to penalties).

Norwich have a better record, winning five of their nine in all competitions, although they lost their only play-off final 4-2 in a shoot-out to Birmingham at the Millennium Stadium in 2001/02.

Photo: Action Images

Fatboy added 06:23 - May 15 Can anyone name the eight shootouts we've lost? I seem to remember losing to Chelsea in the next round of the Zenith Data Systems Cup in 1991. Vinnie Jones scored for Chelsea but I don't remember the score.
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KuqiCoup added 07:07 - May 15 We lost to Chelsea again didn't we in the mid 90's? Cup quarter final possibly. I know we've lost a couple of early league cup ties to lower league teams. Stevenage maybe? Peterborough as well?
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ParisBlue added 07:21 - May 15 Liverpool at Anfield in 2002 shortly after Joe Royle took over. A couple of other European games as well. Liberic & Leipzig perhaps. We've not got a great record in penalties. But I reckon we've a worse record in semi finals. I make it 3 wins in something like16 semis? Definitely lost to Peterborough. Think we won one vs Shrewsbury.
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tractormoo added 07:23 - May 15 Lokomotiv Leipzig, Barcelona, Chelsea, Chelsea, Slovan Liberec, Liverpool, Peterborough, Milton Keynes.
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DurhamTownFan added 09:03 - May 15 Taking them in training is VERY different to a game! Go my sudsy team I used to do pens before every session and got the top corners with no run-up, both feet. Then we had a shoot-out in a game and it went in the river :-( Who would take ours, given that sears and Bish would probably e subbed by then? I'd say: murph, Skuse, Berra (he's gonna blast it, so could go either way!), Chambo (ditto!), maybe Bru of he's on by then?

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RaymondovicBlue added 10:35 - May 15 DELIGHTED to hear this news. Some managers refuse to practice penalties saying it is negative motivation for the game itself ... but surely if penalties is a reality as a possibility - then we MUST be prepared for them. I mean look at the logic - we already know the ticket details and match time for Wembley ... we are getting prepared for all eventualities. Mind you, I hope the Wembley one is more of a reality that the shoot out possibility !! COYB

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Palestine added 12:41 - May 15 Not convinced by MM saying ' you need something to fall back on, whether it's blasting it...." They've got time to learn a technique by Saturday, shouldn't resort to blasting it. Most players are unknown to the keeper which is a big advantages - do your one good penalty. It's harder for known players - think Lampard who took them all the time - who have to vary them a bit. No excuses for not taking a well-rehearsed penno.

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JewellintheTown added 13:28 - May 15 Not sure my nerves could take penalties. Nevermind butterflies, mine are pterodactyls
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coolcat added 22:02 - May 15 This is really good how Mick is preparing them. Always remember George Samaras taking the last penalty for Greece against Columbia in the world cup last year. The last kick in the game. The whole world watching you - no pressure. He was as cool as anything and they won.
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