THE Canaries slumped to their heaviest defeat since Fulham in the Premiership at the Britannia Stadium, with 10-men City losing 5-0 to a rampant Stoke side.
Missing key players Darren Huckerby, Youssef Safri and Robert Earnshaw through injury, the omens did not look good for City from the outset.
And so it proved, as the Peter Grant honeymoon period ended in spectacular fashion, with Norwich sinking to their worst loss since that miserable afternoon at Craven Cottage two seasons ago.
Stoke got the ball rolling on 20 minutes with on-loan Lee Hendrie blasting the home side ahead from 10 yards out.
And the home side doubled their advantage before the break, with Ricardo Fuller tucking away from close range after a scramble in the box.
Norwich rallied after the break, with Dublin twice going close to reducing the arrears.
But it was game over on 72 minutes, Ashdown dragging down man of the match Chadwick to concede a penalty and be sent off for his troubles too. Paul Gallacher was unable to stop Danny Higginbotham's spot kick, with Chadwick himself grabbing a goal minutes later.
Former Norwich man Darrell Russell completed the rout in injury time with a long-range blast.
Peter Grant was unable to call on the services of three key players for the clash at Stoke. The trio of Darren Huckerby, Youssef Safri and Robert Earnshaw all stayed behind in Norfolk with injury, leaving the recently installed City boss with a real selection dilemma.
When the team sheets appeared shortly after 2.15pm it appeared Grant had been forced to play an experimental formation of 3-5-1-1, with the personnel dictating the shape - as the Scotsman had predicted in his Thursday press conference.
The three centre halves were Gary Doherty, Craig Fleming and Jason Shackell, with Jurgen Colin and Adam Drury acting as wing-backs. This left Carl Robinson, Andy Hughes and Dickson Etuhu to make up the central three, with Croft playing in the hole just behind Dion Dublin.
The home side on the other hand had the luxury of welcoming back players from injury, with summer City transfer target Luke Chadwick back in the side and Mamady Sibibe in up front in place of Vincent Pericard, who dropped to the bench.
It was the Canaries who kicked off proceedings, attacking the Boothen End of the ground.
After the first few minutes of play it appeared instead of a back three as suspected, Doherty was being used just in front of a centre-half pairing of Fleming and Shackell, with Dublin the lone front man as expected.
And it was City who had the first half chance inside three minutes. Croft beat his man for skill down the right before lifting a dipping ball to the far post. In came Robinson on the far post, but Stoke defender Hoefkins did well to flick the ball clear of danger.
The on-loan Aston Villa star Lee Hendrie was clearly the dangerman for the home side, and on 11 minutes he sent in a shot from distance which took a deflection on its way through off a City defender.
Ashdown scrambled across his area to stop the ball going out for the corner, something he seemed to be successful in doing.
However, the assistant referee on the opposite side had other ideas, awarding a corner which came to nothing.
Three minutes later and Drury conceded another corner away on the left. Hendrie sent in a great ball, with home skipper Duberry heading over the bar from eight yards out.
City were taking time to come to terms with their new shape, but on 19 minutes they had a loud shout for a penalty waved away.
Colin's deep cross found the head of Dublin, and he brought the ball under control before trying to lift it into the path of Hughes alongside him.
It appeared to strike the arm of Duberry, with both Dublin and Hughes making loud appeals, but the referee was having none of it.
But on 22 minutes it was Stoke who took the lead.
Hendrie was the creator, pulling Norwich all over the place at the back. He found Sidibe in the box, and the big striker returned the favour, playing the ball back into his path and allowing him to finish from 10 yards out.
It was poor defending by Norwich, but a cool finish by the Premiership star.
On 28 minutes City came within inches of equalising. Etuhu's strong run won a free kick 40 yards out on the left, and Robinson delivered an excellent in-swinger to the far post. This was met by Shackell, who's header took a deflection off a Stoke body before dropping just wide of Simonsen's right post.
Three minutes later and Stoke came close to doubling their advantage. Sidibe collected the ball 25 yards from goal and spun on a sixpence to send a dipping volley just wide with Ashdown rooted to the spot.
City were starting to get a foothold in the match but were still lacking any major cutting edge. This was epitomised in the 38th minute when a nice spell of possession ended with Jurgen Colin fizzing a shot over from 30 yards.
But a minute later and City were 2-0 down. A horrible scrap in Norwich's six yard box saw the Canaries fail at least twice to get a decent foot to the ball. And after Ashdown had made a point-blank save from Fuller, the ball landed back at his feet six yards out and he had a simple finish into an empty net.
It was a disappointing way to concede, and it now looked a long way back for City, with another half still to play.
With home side now well in control, withy were beginning to boss possession with Hendrie and Chadwick in particular looking dangerous on the flanks.
With a minute of the half left Stoke had penalty appeals waved away when Fuller went down in the box like a dying swan from a Drury challenge. It looked like a dive, and while the referee was not falling for it, he failed to book the former Southampton man.
Straight up the other end Dublin let rip from 20 yards, but Simonsen did well to tip over the bar.
Half time: Stoke City 2-0 Norwich City
Neither side opted for any changes at the break, with City now looking to produce something special to get back into it.
But the second half continued in the same vein as the first, with Stoke on the front-foot - Lee Hendrie smashing a right foot shot into the side netting after twisting and turning in the box on 51 minutes.
On 55 minutes Grant made his first change, replacing Fleming with former Stoke hero Peter Thorne and switching to a more recognised 4-4-2 formation with Doherty rejoining the back four.
And three minutes later he changed it again, replacing the hard-working Hughes for youngster Robert Eagle.
With the game now approaching the hour mark, City had still only registered the one shot on target for the match - that being Dublin's long range effort.
It seemed the absence of the likes of Huckerby and Earnshaw was taking its toll.
On 63 minutes the veteran striker tried his luck again. Eagle's cross from the left was flicked-on by Dublin into the path of Croft on the right edge of the box. He took a touch before returning the ball to the big striker, who sent a scissor kick on the volley flying a few yards wide of the far post.
It was an ambitious effort, but perhaps proof City had some fight in them after all.
A minute later and the Canaries came even closer to halving the deficit. Eagle again was the provider, sending in a sweet cross from the left which Dublin headed down and inched wide of Simonsen's right post.
The switch in formation had signalled City's most effective spell of the game, with Eagle looking sharp and providing plenty of ammunition to the two men in the middle.
But on 72 minutes things got worse for Norwich when Ashdown conceded a penalty and was sent off to boot.
A lucky deflection on the edge of the area saw the ball bounce through to Chadwick, and he nicked the ball round the big 'keeper, who pulled him down before he could pull the trigger.
The referee was given no choice in the matter, pointing to the spot and showing the on-loan Portsmouth man a red card.
This forced Grant into his final change, taking off Robinson in place of Gallacher.
And despite his heroics on Tuesday night in the Carling Cup, the Scottish international could not stop Danny Higginbotham from tucking away the kick to make it 3-0.
And things would soon get worse for the 10 men as Stoke scored a fourth.
Gallacher had only seconds earlier pulled off an excellent save from Russell's shot from the edge of the area. But his defence failed to rally in time, leading to some horrible pinball in the area before Chadwick tucked the loose ball away from 12 yards out.
It was already a rout, but with 10 minutes left you just hoped City would not allow it to become worse as the travelling support began to file out of the stadium.
And City managed to weather the storm. But it was too little too late - the damage had already been done.
And in injury time Russell made it 5-0, firing in via Gallacher and a post from the edge of the box.
For Norwich, the final whistle could not come quick enough.
Full time: Stoke City 5-0 Norwich City
Stoke City: Simonsen, Griffin, Higginbotham, Duberry (c), Hoefkins, Diao (Brammer 80), Hendrie (Hendrie 80), Russell, Chadwick, Sidibe, Fuller (Pericard 74). Subs: Bangoura, Hill.
Norwich City: Ashdown, Drury (c), Shackell, Fleming (Thorne 55), Croft, Dublin, Hughes (Eagle 58), Etuhu, Colin, Doherty, Robinson. Subs: Gallacher, Ryan Jarvis, Rossi Jarvis.
