Norwich City 3, Albion 3

Managers long for consistency. A consistent level of performance from their players and the team.

It's a comfort blanket, knowing what you are going to get.

The problem for Sami Hyypia is that, like the rest of us, he does not know what to expect from his Albion side.

What to expect from spells in a game, yet alone from match to match or even from half to half.

That is the difficulty of regarding a three-match unbeaten run as the shoots of a recovery.

The sequence of win, draw, draw against Wigan, Blackburn and now Norwich, either side of another of the international breaks halting any flow to the early part of the season, has been a snapshot of the uncertainty.

A clean sheet, only the second at home all season. Three leads relinquished, one deficit recovered. Three goals scored in a game under Hyypia in the Championship for the first time, three conceded in successive away games.

Perhaps the perpetual journey into the unknown when Hyypia sets foot inside the technical area contributed to his relatively downbeat demeanour and assessment of a fluctuating, pulsating stalemate.

Managers rarely take much satisfaction from high-scoring draws. Such an outcome means too many things have gone wrong, as well as those that have gone right.

The vast majority of supporters, whether they travelled to Norfolk or not, will probably accept parity away to one of the under-achievers relegated from the Premier League in Albion's perilous position.

The trouble is that position is now even more perilous, above the drop zone only on goal difference. That is what deadlock after deadlock does for you. At best you tread water, at worst you gradually drown.

Hyypia's cup was neither half full nor half empty. In one gulp the taste was pleasantly encouraging, the next had the discomfort of residue.

He said: "I guess for the neutral spectators the game was quite exciting but, for us, we didn't get the three points.

"There were a lot of positives. We got into situations in possession when we played from the back and got into areas where we want to be. We are still maybe not dangerous enough in the final third, in this game a little bit as well, but we are getting there. Going forward we were not bad.

"When we went 1-0 up we stopped wanting the ball and passing the ball and let Norwich come more and more into the game. Defensively we didn't do the right things."

In the spirit of positivity, let's begin with the glass half-full aspects of Albion's eighth draw in the last 11 League games.

The reasons to be cheerful? David Stockdale, slimmer after his four-match absence with a broken finger, justfied his return at the expense of the hugely promising Christian Walton.

Stockdale was in shot-stopping form in the first half of the second half to limit Norwich's 2-1 lead.

First choice right-back Bruno returned from a seven-match absence with groin trouble with a well-taken goal, his second of the season and the ninth already by a defender.

Adrian Colunga, restored to the starting line-up in place of the ineligible Elliott Bennett, scored for his second appearance running after an exquisite assist.

Most positive of all, Kazenga LuaLua was as influential away from the Amex as he has more often been at home during his Albion career.

Norwich could not handle him and resorted to fouling him with almost ridiculous regularity. Amid the mayhem of goals the already-booked Jonny Howson, provider of Norwich's first equaliser, should have been sent-off after the break when he brought down LuaLua.

It was overlooked by referee Geoff Eltringham, who instead gave ex-Albion loanee Bradley Johnson a second yellow card late-on for clipping down the breaking Gary Gary Gardner from behind. If Johnson had to go then Howson should have gone before him.

The half-empty reasons to be fearful? That is just one win in 14 now in the Championship, which is relegation form.

Albion, not for the first time this season, were flakey in relinquinshing an advantage rapidly. They were 1-0 ahead for only five minutes, 3-2 up for eight towards the end.

Worst of all, they conceded too easily. Bruno's angled far post header from a pinpoint left-wing cross by fellow Spaniard Colunga was cancelled out in the first half by Howson nodding in a cross from the elusive Nathan Redmond.

Even the stunning 30-yard strike by Brighton-born centre-half turned right-back Russell Martin early in the second half on his 200th Norwich appearance was avoidable at source.

Martin's unstoppable shot came from a corner, conceded cheaply initially when Rohan Ince gave away possession and headed away at the near post by Jake Forster-Caskey into a central position, rather than out of danger.

Hyypia said: "I understand that when we try to play then sometimes you lose the ball and maybe the opposition will take advantage of it.

"It feels a little bit as if when we lose possession the opposition punish us every time. It was a tremendous strike. The goalie can't do anything with that.

"It was a perfect shot but maybe we could have cleared the ball a little bit better, if Jake Forster-Caskey heads the ball somewhere else than in the middle of the park outside the box."

LuaLua, often popping up more centrally and a bit deeper than normal in Albion's fluid front three, restored equilibrium by jinking away from Howson inside the penalty area from a standing start and firing low into the far corner.

A first away win since mid-August was within sight 12 minutes from time when the sometimes lightweight but admirably industrious Sam Baldock won a blatant penalty when he was caught by the outsmarted and cumbersome Jois Hooiveld.

Colunga exuded confidence in the manner in which he despatched the spot-kick, a short walk-up, not run-up, before sending John Ruddy the wrong way.

Albion failed to see the game out, substitute Gary Hooper's snapshot from the edge of the box with five minutes left depriving them, although Norwich are entitled to feel they did not deserve to lose. Hyypia acknowledged: "Of course, Norwich had chances and a few shots from the edge of the box. David Stockdale played very well so, from that point of view, maybe we need to be happy with a point."

He wasn't. Desire for consistency does not extend to relentless draws.