ANOTHER top quality brace from hotshot Jamie Cureton saw City bounce back from behind to beat George Burley's Saints 2-1 at Carrow Road.

A lacklustre display in the first half saw the Saints leading at the break courtesy of an opportunist strike from Kenwyne Jones - the fact that it came from Youssef Safri's corner making it that little bit extra galling for the Norwich faithful.

But the Canaries rallied well and showed good character to clinch an excellent win thanks to two quality strikes from Jamie Cureton.

Goals in the 62nd and 71st minute - the second a strike of Premiership class - from Cureton turned the game on its head and ensured City's unbeaten start to the season continued.

City boss Peter Grant made just one change to the side that beat Barnet 5-2 in midweek, with Julien Brellier returning to the centre of midfield in place of Mark Fotheringham.

Fotheringham, scorer of one of City's goals in that win on Tuesday night,  joined a strong bench including Dublin, Chadwick and Strihavka.

Former City midfielder Youssef Safri got a bit of a rough welcome from the Canary faithful, a chorus of boos ringing around Carrow Road when his name was read out.

Southampton were looking to bounce back from a shaky start to the season, George Burley's side having lost 4-1 at home to Palace in their opening league fixture and then suffering Carling Cup embarrassment at the hands of Peterborough United midweek.

But it was Norwich who nearly took the lead on six minutes when Lappin's free-kick from the left eluded the Saints defence and Gary Doherty met it with a first-time volley from six yards which crashed against the crossbar and away to safety.

The visitors hit back and three minutes later hesitant defending allowed Kenwyne Jones to climb and meet Wright's deep cross from the right with a header which Marshall comfortably collected.

Meanwhile Safri did nothing to claw back any popularity with the home fans on 11 minutes as he crunched into Darel Russell and left the City man writhing on the deck. Russell soon got up to continue and referee Clive Oliver settled for a quiet word with the Moroccan, much to the crowd's disgust.

The game heated up in the 19th minute, first as Marshall made a hash of punching clear Skacel's corner from the right and Lappin was forced to head clear from under his own crossbar.

Then as the ball finally came out of the City area Safri clattered into Lappin as the Scotsman threatened to tee up a swift Norwich counter. This time Mr Oliver had seen enough and the yellow card came out, to the delight of the baying home crowd.

A minute later Viafara picked the ball up for Southampton and seemed to have been well shepherded into a wide position, but still manged to twist and get in a low shot from 16 yards which rippled the side-netting.

Jamie Cureton hadn't been seeing much of the ball to date but in the 27th minute he had a half-shout for a penalty as after stealing the ball from a Saints defender he turned inside and promptly crashed to the deck, but to be fair it looked a legal challenge from Wayne Thomas.

As the game approached the half-hour Kenwyne Jones was left in apparent agony in the centre of the pitch after a running challenge with City skipper Jason Shackell and after some delay Mr Oliver produced the second yellow of the match for the Norwich defender.

An excellent bit of goalkeeping in the 35th minute saw Marshall come off his line to dive bravely at the feet of Rasiak as the Saints man jinked into the area.

A minute later he was beaten from close range by Kenwyn Jones but Drury was on hand to stab the ball away at the expense of a corner.

But it was only a temporary respite as from Safri's corner Jones received the ball again - and this time he was allowed to take two City defenders out of the equation with a clever turn and then drilled his side into the lead with a powerful low shot from ten yards.

Suddenly it seemed City were on the ropes and as the remainder of the half progressed they seemed to find it increasingly difficult to mount telling attacks of their own and relieve the pressure on the defence.

In the last minute of normal time in the half the Canaries had Doherty to thank for keeping the score down to 1-0 as he threw his body in the way of Skacel's close-range  blast after Rasiak cleverly teed him up.

Half-time score: Norwich City 0, Southampton 1

After what was no doubt a lively half-time team talk from Peter Grant City made one change at the interval, Mark Fotheringham replacing Brellier in the centre of the park.

There was a slight scare for the Canaries just two minutes into the half, when Marshall mis-kicked a clearance straight to Viafara 40 yards out and he sent the ball back towards goal first time. Much to the Marshall's relief the effort spun harmlessly wide of the empty net.

On 50 minutes though a wonderful diving save from Marshall brought swift redemption as he denied Rasiak's close-range blast after he was picked out by Jones.

But what was turning into an eventful - if not initially encouraging from a Canary perspective - half for Marshall, five minutes later he was nearly embarrassed by a half-volley from 20 yards from Surman which sneaked under his body and forced him to dive backwards and claim the ball inches from the line.

As the game reached the hour mark City were presented with an interesting opportunity after Saints skipper Makin clearly passed back to Davis inside his own six yard box under pressure.

Referee Mr Oliver quite rightly awarded an indirect free kick and the ground held its breath as Fotheringham lined up to take it with the Saints defence massed on the line.

With Lappin shaping up to strike it the ball was instead rolled out to Jamie Cureton, who rammed home his first league goal of the season for the Canaries with a howitzer into the top corner from nine yards that left Davis clutching at air.

Suddenly the Canaries had their tails up and in the 63rd minute Cureton picked up Otsemobor's cross on the left-hand side of the Saints area and curled in a lovely shot which Davis dived to palm away with his right hand.

Two minutes later Chris Brown was fouled in a similar position 22 yards out and Davis was again outstanding as he dived to punch Fotheringham's lovely curling free-kick wide.

Darel Russell found himself in the ref's notebook on 66 minutes as he was adjudged to have pulled the shirt of Viafara.

George Burley then made the afternoon's first substitution, bringing on Saganowski for Rasiak.

But the momentum had dramatically swung in the Canaries' favour - and they duly raised the roof at Carrow Road as they powered into a 2-1 lead in the 71st minute.

It came when Croft picked up the ball out wide on the right after some good battling from Otsemobor and whipped a cross into the box. Jamie Cureton chested the ball down before swivelling superbly to rifle in a shot from ten yards which Davis could only palm into the roof of the net.

In the 72nd minute Burley made his second change as Adam Hamill came on for Nathan Dyer.

As we moved into the last quarter of an hour Gary Doherty was booked for a challenge on Andrew Surman. Meanwhile City boss Peter Grant was forced to make his first change as Fotheringham picked up a knock and was replaced by Luke Chadwick in the 83rd minute.

There was a huge ovation a minute later as Jamie Cureton left the pitch to be replaced by David Strihavka. The Saints responded with their final change on 86 minutes as Bradley Wright-Phillips came on for Surman.

Meanwhile City were still driving forward. First Lee Croft tried his luck with an opportunist strike from fully 35 yards which flew a couple of feet wide of the far post. Then in the 88th minute he nearly turned provided as he chipped in a lofted cross which picked out Russell in acres 12 yards out - but he got under the header and his effort went well over.

With all eyes anxiously on him the fourth official signalled the four minutes of time added on which seems obligatory when Norwich are holding on to a tight lead.

But it was to be a long and pointless journey home for George Burley and the Saints fans as City's second-half revival proved enough to maintain their unbeaten start to the season and a very useful victory.

Final score: Norwich City 2, Southampton 1

Norwich City: Marshall, Otsemobor, Drury, Shackell (C), Croft, Brellier (Fotheringham 45) ((Chadwick 83)), Cureton (Strihavka 84), Brown, Lappin, Russell, Doherty. Subs not used: Gilks, Dublin.

Southampton: Davis, Thomas, Skacel, Rasiak (Saganowski 66), Wright, Surman (Wright-Phillips 86), Jones, Viafara, Dyer (Hammill 72), Makin (C), Safri. Subs not used: Bialkowski (GK), Ostlund.