Bowen vs Drury

[The Great Mass Debater]

Unless I've forgotten someone particularly outstanding (and no I've not forgotten Erik Fuglestad), Mark Bowen and Adam Drury have been our two best left backs in recent times.

If you had to pick one over the other (and its my poll so you do    )  who would you go for and why?

 

[Fenway Frank]

Drury was easily the better defender imo

 

[ZLF]

Bowen for me;   played his career with us in the top flight and a classy defender who attacked supremely well.

Drury is a club legend - loyal and dependable defender but spent most of his time in tier 2;   got dropped (wrongly imo) for Brennan in his main prem season with us but did struggle against the best.

 

[morty]

Has to be Drury for me, Bowen was before my time!

 

[Din]

Bowen was also before my time, so would have to go for Drury.

 

[crabbycanary]

Bowen for me. Both had great Full Back qualities, but Bowen was a step above, when it came to the attacking side of things

 

[morty]

Blimey just searched "Mark Bowen Norwich City" on youtube and found this. Norwich City Christmas video 1989, this should bring back a few memories!

 

[crabbycanary]

Cheers for that Morty, had a scan through that. That was a great team!

Loved the Linighan interview, Sherwood wearing the No 2 shirt, and Worthington giving away a penalty!

 

[morty]

Cheers for that Morty, had a scan through that. That was a great team!

Loved the Linighan interview, Sherwood wearing the No 2 shirt, and Worthington giving away a penalty!

Am watching it all now, happy with that random find, decent quality too!

Yeah, the Worthington pen made me chuckle.

 

[ncfcvet]

Bowen for me. Both classy players; good at their main job....defending, but Bowen nicks it for his slightly better attacking ability and a few more goals (?) imo. Mind you Drury probably had a little bit more to do with Hucks in front of him!!

 

[derehamyella]

Bowen JUST for me, he was a class act,   in a time when the game then was more a man's game, when a tackle was a tackle ..  Drury was also a class act in his time, loyal, a credit and great role model .. so close hard to really call  

 

[Canaryboy]

Has to be Mark Bowen for me, I was only a kid but he was right up there with our best players during arguably our best ever period and he was one of those players who had the ability to play anywhere (in fact according to wiki, he played left midfield in his first season here). He'd of been a decent striker, he knew how to find the back of the net. 

Adam Drury spent most of his career in the Championship, "best left back outside of the Premier League" he may well have been (words of Barry Fry), but Mark Bowen was surely one of the best left backs in the country? 

329 of his 410 league games came in the top division of English football, 8 consecutive years in the top division with Norwich. 5th, 4th and 3rd place league finishes. Oh yeah, and the scorer of the second goal against Bayern Munich away.... 

 

[ZLF]

Before my time???   Does that mean I am right in thinking that Rosario was a better striker than Pele as I saw one but not the other?   h34r:   

 

[Stan The Fan]

Bowen was the best left back that I have ever seen in a NCFC shirt. Dury was a very sound defender but not in the same class as Bowen. We all remember Gossy's goal against Bayern but it was Bowen that made it 2-0 with a great header that helped us win 2-1.

 

[Dubai Mark]

Bowen nicks it for me, even despite a difficult night match at Carrow Road I remember when he was up against Franz Carr the Forest winger. We had our crowd singing "you'll never beat Mark Bowen"....which was usually the case.......we lost the game heavily (1-6 I think?) with Carr man of the match. Now I will check the facts to see if my recollection is close to what actually a happened.

 

[Beauseant]

Definitely Bowen. Fantastic going forward when it was less  of a norm for fullbacks and pretty decent defensively too. Drury was a class act, but not quite up to Bowen's standards.