The Sky Blues turn on the style at the Ricoh to beat high-flying Norwich with Chris Birchall, Kevin Kyle and Stern John all getting on the scoresheet.
Micky Adams handed a first home start to Scottish international striker Kevin Kyle for this afternoon's clash as he lined-up alongside Stern John upfront.
The former Sunderland man made his debut in the hard-fought one nil win against Hull at the KC Stadium last time out, but the powerhouse forward was getting his first taste of the Ricoh atmosphere.
In a shake-up to the system the gaffer reverted back to a more conventional four-four-two set-up, which sees Matt Heath and midfielder Colin Cameron drop to the bench with Andy Whing and Kevin Thornton taking their place.
Thornton was the goal scoring hero at Hull and got his reward in a midfield also containing Stephen Hughes, Michael Doyle and Chris Birchall.
After the two-week lay-off it didn't take long for both teams to get stuck-in and after just three minutes Norwich's Jason Shackell put in a horribly mis-timed challenge on Stern John.
The Trinidad and Tobago international showed great speed of thought to knock the ball forward with the defender sliding in to scythe John down and earn himself a booking.
The Sky Blues were setting a good tempo with both Andy Whing and Marcus Hall bombing forward at every opportunity as City went about finding an early breakthrough.
And the Sky Blue Army weren't made to wait much longer for the goal they had been hoping for.
Chris Birchall picking up a bobbling ball 25 yards from goal the lively midfielder only ever had one thing in his mind, smashing the ball into the bottom far corner to leave Gallacher with no chance after 12 minutes.
It was the former Port Vale man's first goal for his new club after his move across the Midlands during the summer.
The game was opening up into a real end-to-end affair with goalscorer Birchall surging into the box before crossing for Thornton, who miscued his effort on goal before former City man Huckerby crossed low at the other end.
On 29 Andy Whing looked to have won the Sky Blues a penalty in the box after he went down under pressure from Adam Drury but the referee waved away City's appeals and instead booked Whing.
With 37 gone some good link-up play between Thornton and John almost saw the striker burst through on goal, but the ball was just under hit allowing the defender to clear the danger.
Having not created any genuine chances in the first half Norwich were in need of stepping it up a little in the second period if they were to peg the Sky Blues back. City fans were probably expecting Huckerby to give their defence a torrid time on his return to his old club but he had been largely ineffective and was substituted in the 49th minute with Paul McVeigh taking his place.
In the 53rd minute the equalizer nearly came from another City old boy as Safri let fly from well over 30 yards and a deflection off Elliott Ward's head very nearly caught Marshall out.
But with 63 on the clock the Sky Blues doubled their lead thanks to some superb interplay between our two strikers. Kyle curled a precise pass out toe John before making a run into the area. The Trinidad and Tobago international then put an inch perfect cross into the area and Kyle leapt between two defenders to send a powerful header past Gallacher.
City were playing with bags of confidence now and moments after the second goal John nearly made it three with a beautifully struck low shot from the edge of the area which flew just wide of the far post.
But he did not have to wait long to register on the scoresheet, making it 3-0 in the 67th minute. He used all of his skill to evade a number of challenges from Norwich men and his shot took a slight deflection to wrong foot Gallacher and nestle in the back of the net.
Micky Adams soon made a double substitution with the effervescent Kevin Thornton being replaced by Colin Cameron and Don Hutchison coming on for Kevin Kyle who had enjoyed an excellent home debut. Stern John soon came off to a standing ovation as Isaac Osbourne was given a run out for the final ten.
With five left on the clock Marshall made a fine point blank range block from McVeigh to preserve the clean sheet in what was pretty much a flawless performance from the Sky Blues.
CITY
Marshall; Whing; Hall; Page; Ward; Hughes; Doyle; Kyle (Hutchison 70); Birchall; John (Osbourne 82); Thornton (Cameron 70). SUBS (not used): Adebola; Heath.
Booked: Page (27), Whing (29)
NORWICH
Gallacher; Drury; Shackell; Huckerby (McVeigh 49); Croft; Earnshaw; Safri; Etuhu (Henderson 67); Colin; Doherty; Robinson. SUBS (not used): Camp; Fleming; Hughes.
Booked: Shackell (3), Robinson (25)
Referee: J Moss
Attendance: 20,006 (2,573)
