Southampton's subsequent 4-3 victory was exactly what football is all about. Although a sad echo of the 'six goal thriller' at Selhurst Park weeks earlier, with Norwich looking entirely capable of winning the game going forward but like a ticking time bomb at the back, the feeling at the end was very distinctly different.
The simple fact was that there was no catastrophic error from player or official. There was no villain of the piece throwing himself to the ground in search of a penalty. With the scores level when Leon McKenzie made it 3-3 right on half time, the match continued to ebb and flow. Simon Charlton had an effort brilliantly saved by Antti Niemi. Then Camara, whose touch had been dreadful, took the ball 25 yards from goal and drove it into the bottom corner. It was a goal worthy of winning the game, and it did just that.
Just a few short months later and it seems a million miles away. Three games into the new season in a new division, City are still seeking their first win. Damien Francis and David Bentley, scorer of the first goal that afternoon, are long gone, as are Mattias Jonsson, Matt Svensson and Thomas Helveg, all departed back to Scandinavia.
The comings and goings at Carrow Road have been astonishing for the club, who are usually pretty conservative about these things. In terms of significance, it is those who have stayed who should make the difference. Dean Ashton, Robert Green, Darren Huckerby and Leon McKenzie will all line up at 3 o'clock tomorrow with City's first away win in 15 months on their minds. As Huckerby said this week, somebody is in for a beating.
For Southampton, they have had to face up to the loss of their top flight status for the first time in 28 years. Harry Redknapp's ego is bruised, both by relegation and by having to share an office with a man who stands for a completely different set of values, not to mention a different sport, Sir Clive Woodward. His chairman, Rupert Lowe, has sold enough goals to win promotion twice over from under sad Harry's sulking frame. Kevin Phillips would have taken Championship defences apart. Peter Crouch is somebody Norwich know all about. Neither remain at St Mary's.
Pre season forecasts had Norwich well placed to go up, with the Saints expected to take time to adjust in the same way as Coventry, Leeds and West Ham before them. Tomorrow's game, as the last meeting, will decide nothing. If City win, it's all back on track and everything's rosy. They will be unbeaten and riding high. Ashton is staying and Clinton Morrison is hopefully on his way. Green seems to have cemented his place in the England squad simply by not being David James.
Defeat may be the wake up call the players need. Performances have been generally of a good standard, but lapses in concentration have proved costly. The first few weeks shape the attitude of the players to the rest of the season, and it would do no harm for them to be forced to dig in. Nigel Worthington has adopted a noticeably different appraoch to the openly peeved Redknapp, and it should pay dividends.
With the imminent arrival of Morrison from Birmingham, one player sure to be motivated is his old friend Leon McKenzie. The pair grew up as players in Crystal Palace's youth teams but, aside from being excited at a reunion with an old friend, Leon must see his place under threat. A glut of goals would see to that.
Elsewhere in the side, Adam Drury will miss out with the ankle ligament injury he picked up against Palace. His place will probably be taken by Simon Charlton, who will get a chance to impress in his favoured position after having been moved around the side. Jurgen Colin is likely to continue at right back ahead of Mathieu Louis Jean. Colin began the season as the understudy, but has the pedigree to make the place his own, coming from the same PSV Eindhoven side as the likes of Arjen Robben.
In midfield, Worthington must again choose two from Andy Hughes, Youssef Safri and Jason Jarrett. Jarrett missed out last time around but has improved his fitness with a run out for the reserves, who lost at home to Southampton on Monday.
For Saints fans, there is the chance that the visiting Norwich team, largely the same as before, may be more familiar than their own line up, such has been the recent upheavel. They have failed to bring in Morrison, who they deemed too expensive, and Millwall's David Livermore, who had problems with his medical, this week. The familiar City side will be hoping for an unfamiliar result: an away win.