Kurt hurts Cumbrians
And the Norwich striker did it again with a stoppage-time leveller against City’s Premier League visitors.
The Scotland international has never been a regular in the starting line-up since his £8.5million move from Everton a year ago.
He scored on his Canaries debut in that 5-4 thriller against Liverpool but has never seemed to have done enough to convince Alex Neil.
But another priceless header – in the 92nd minute – helped his side come from behind for a second time to ensure their number is in tomorrow night’s Fourth Round draw.
Norwich boss Neil said: “I was delighted for Steven.
“I thought he worked extremely hard, he was diligent and won important battles for us.
“He did the ugly side really well and he got his reward.
“It’s a good draw against a good side and I think it was competitive game and it was probably a fairish result.
“It’s an extra game and we have got a lot of players.
“We can now give some of them a game so I’m not disappointed.”
But Naismith’s goal left Saints shellshocked as they prepare for Wednesday night’s EFL Cup Semi-Final at St Mary’s.
They have removed any thoughts that Virgil Van Dijk’s won’t still be around if they do get the better of Liverpool over two legs.
And you can see exactly why the Saints don’t want to lose their two most experienced centre-backs in the same window.
They will almost certainly let skipper Jose Fonte leave after he slapped in an official transfer request and boss Claude Puel made a point by not even having him on the bench yesterday.
Puel said: “I don’t want to give a reason why he wasn’t picked.
“I cannot give an answer about him, it’s between Jose and the club and we will see in the future.
“I’ll make a decision whether he plays against Liverpool on Monday or Tuesday.
“I respect it’s reasonable for Jose to see if there is any possibility of a move in the window.”
Fortunately for Puel, Dutchman Van Dijk was back to his imperious best.
He didn’t put a foot wrong at the back and found time to move up into the Canaries’ area to get the 37th-minute opener that should have put Saints on the path to the next round.
It was his fourth goal of the season but how he was allowed to trot into the penalty area without being spotted by any Norwich defender is a bigger mystery than his long-term future at St Mary’s.
Dusan Tadic’s long cross eluded everyone but Van Dijk and even though he thumped his shot into the turf, it still had enough on it to beat Michael McGovern.
Van Dijk’s backfour partner Maya Yoshida came up with what everyone thought was the winner after the Canaries had got back into the game from the penalty spot.
No one closed down Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and allowed him too much time to measure up his cross and the Japan defender got to it first, rocketing his header into the roof of the net past the exposed McGovern.
Southampton’s teenage goalkeeper Harry Lewis couldn’t have done anything about Naismith’s last-gasp header but he was badly at fault for the first home goal.
He gave Cameron Jerome the chance to sneak between him and the ball and dived in even though the striker was running away from the goal.
There was no imminent danger as he carelessly brought him down and Scotland international Steven Whittaker kept his composure and slammed home the spot-kick. STAR MAN: NORWICH: SOUTHAMPTON: Ref: SHEFFIELD UNITED consolidated their place at the top of League One by beating Southend 4-2.
Ethan Ebanks-Landell headed the Blades into an early lead but Simon Cox levelled for the in-form Shrimpers in the 19th minute.
Jack O’Connell put United back in front just before the break and Caolan Lavery slotted in a third.
Kieron Freeman wrapped things up before Jermaine McGlashan netted a late second for the hosts.
Scunthorpe moved above Bolton, who were not in action, into second with a 3-2 home win over Bury.
On-loan Norwich defender Harry Toffolo, Stephen Dawson and Josh Morris scored for The Iron, with George Miller and Kelvin Etuhu replying.
Ellis Harrison hit a hat-trick in seven first-half minutes and finished with four goals as Bristol Rovers swept Northampton aside 5-0 at The Memorial Stadium. Billy Bodin had got things started.
Bradford are up to fourth after goals by Mark Marshall and Jordy Hiwula beat Chesterfield 2-0.
Shrewsbury moved out of the bottom four on goal difference after grabbing a 1-1 draw at Swindon.
The home side went ahead after 55 minutes through a penalty from John Goddard after Aristote Nsiala had been shown a red card.
James Brophy then collected two quick cautions and Mat Sadler equalised with 10 minutes left. CARLISLE missed out on the chance to move second in League Two as a Kurtis Guthrie hat-trick helped Colchester to a crushing 4-1 success.
Chris Porter gave the resurgent U’s an 11th-minute lead with a powerful header but Keith Curle’s men drew level through Shaun Brisley.
Guthrie restored the hosts’ lead with a fierce strike and the same player thumped in a third early in the second half, before completing his hat-trick in the third minute of stoppage time to take Colchester up to sixth place.
Barnet had an impressive 3-1 win at Leyton Orient with Ricardo Santos scoring twice and Curtis Weston also netting, while Paul McCallum pulled a goal back.
Grimsby remain firmly in the play-off hunt with a 1-0 win at Hartlepool, with Adi Yussuf the scorer.
Matt Godden fired in a hat-trick as Stevenage eased to a 3-1 win against bottom club Newport.
Dan Butler netted a consolation in time added on.
Mansfield eased to a 3-0 win at home to Crewe, with Yoann Arquin, Ben Whiteman and Rhys Bennett all scoring their first goals for the club.
Morecambe scored three first-half goals and then had a man sent off as they thumped Notts County 4-1 in Alan Smith’s first match as caretaker manager.