"When you get to the quarterfinals it is no good fearing anybody," said Strachan. "With Manchester United and Sunderland losing that is two more Premiership teams out which makes things easier but I fancy our chances against anybody with this side.

"We just kept working hard but it was a 50-50 first half and when Norwich hit the post you start thinking 'we could be going out of the cup here'. But then, bang, bang we get two goals and it keeps us rolling on.

"To be honest we played better at Blackburn last week and lost but Norwich did well. They have good players and I wasn't surprised at their performance."

Strachan, as usual, is spot on in his assessment of the game. With Paul McVeigh hitting the post, Norwich could well have sneaked an unlikely result. But Saints struck back with two goals and the game ended as a contest. Strachan won't be too happy that Saints were mediocre for large periods of the first half. Better sides could have punished us, and will do so if we take that level of performance into other games.