JOHN GREGORY CALLED HIS NEW club’s schedule “mental” and if they are involved in many more matches such as this, they may implode. But then, as he pointed out, if everything was perfect at Queens Park Rangers, he would not have been asked to take over as manager.

And that must have been what Peter Grant was thinking as he watched from the directors’ box, having just been appointed Norwich City’s new manager. Grant was not in charge and his role was reduced to that of smiling a good deal, having his back slapped and being shielded from the media.

But Grant, who has left West Ham United, where he was Alan Pardew’s assistant, was presented with a neat summary of what he has inherited from Nigel Worthington. Norwich were, by turns, mature, naive, experienced, exciting and laughable.

According to Craig Fleming, Norwich’s long-serving centre half, Grant will be able to toughen up Norwich. Grant played in the same Norwich team as Fleming eight years ago, when Grant may have impressed Norwich fans with his uncompromising style, but did not gain the status befitting a legend.

“A lot of the time big names are not the answer,” Fleming said. “It does not always guarantee success. I was speaking to a big mate of mine, ‘Aidy’ (Adrian) Boothroyd at Watford, who goes to show exactly what can be done if you get the right man with the right ambition. Peter’s got a better pedigree than Aidy. Aidy hadn’t really worked at first-team level. They (Norwich) want somebody with a bit of pizzazz, a bit of drive, and that is Peter.

“He’ll be pushing us on, trying to get us into those play-off positions. He had a great working partnership with Pardew and in many ways had more to do with it (West Ham’s rise) because first-team coaches have more to do with the day-to-day running of the team.”

Norwich managed to resemble a team who should be in the Premiership and one who could be relegated. They took the lead through Darren Huckerby, who used his sprightly style to sneak through the QPR defence to beat Paul Jones after four minutes. Jones, who had returned from international duty with Wales with the chip on his shoulder of having let in five goals against Slovakia, must have felt a terrible sense of déjà vu.

But although he was beaten twice more on Saturday, he ended the match winning plaudits from his manager for a couple of superb one-handed saves that kept the home team in the hunt for victory.

QPR equalised through Jimmy Smith’s lovely strike. Smith is on loan from Chelsea and will probably stay at Loftus Road beyond his one-month deal, not least because, as Gregory pointed out, he is unlikely to oust, in the short term, Frank Lampard or Michael Ballack. Shortly before the half-time whistle, Martin Rowlands put QPR ahead, but no one in the stadium believed that could be a decisive goal.

Sure enough, the second half was even more open. Robert Earnshaw tormented the home team, while the Norwich defence were troubled by Gregory’s youthful forwards. Martin Hunter, the Norwich caretaker manager, responded by adding a dash of experience with the introduction of Dion Dublin.

Five minutes later, Dublin, who signed from Celtic this summer, scored the goal of the game as a swift, neat build-up left Andy Hughes free to cross into the path of Dublin’s run. Earnshaw scored from the penalty spot to give Norwich the lead again after Zesh Rehman had brought down Huckerby.

A matter of seconds after a huge roar greeted the announcement that there would be five minutes of added time, Rowlands grabbed the final equaliser. “Anybody in this league can beat anybody,” Hunt said, but that never looked likely during this confrontation. The draw was a fair result.

Fleming said: “All the teams that win this league have to be gritty, hard to be beat.” So it is fair to conclude that Gregory and Grant have their work cut out.

Queens Park Rangers (4-4-2): P Jones — S Lomas (sub: M Rose, 90min), Z Rehman, D Stewart, M Bignot — M Rowlands, M Bircham, J Smith, L Cook — R Jones (sub: K Gallen, 77), D Blackstock. Substitutes not used: S Royce, S Bailey, N Ward. Booked: Smith, Rehman, Lomas. FORM DWWLLD NEXT Derby County (h)

Norwich City (4-5-1): P Gallagher — J Colin, C Fleming, J Shackell, A Drury — L Croft (sub: P McVeigh, 87), A Hughes (sub: Y Safri, 75), C Robinson (sub: D Dublin, 67), D Etuhu, D Huckerby — R Earnshaw. Substitutes not used: L Camp, R Jarvis. Booked: Shackell. FORM DLLWLD NEXT Birmingham City (a)