David CuffleyCity boss Paul Lambert rated his side's performance at Leyton Orient one of the worst of the season as they suffered their second successive away defeat.David Cuffley

City boss Paul Lambert rated his side's performance at Leyton Orient one of the worst of the season as they suffered their second successive away defeat.

"We never got going - we never got off on the front foot and lost two really bad goals," said Lambert after last night's 2-1 reverse at the Matchroom Stadium. "And even at 1-1, the second goal we lost was poor."

The Canaries visit promotion-chasing Charlton on Saturday, needing a big improvement on their Brisbane Road showing if they are not to endure a nervous finish to the campaign. Leeds cut their lead to six points with four games to play thanks to a 3-1 win at Carlisle, while Millwall slipped to third, one point further back, after a 1-1 draw at Yeovil.

"That's the worst we've been for a while and we have to pick ourselves up and go again on Saturday. We're still sitting at the top," said Lambert. "We've still got a really good lead and another two home games and a hard game on Saturday. There's no need to panic."

Both goals conceded at Orient came from free-kicks and he admitted: "They were really, really poor - centre of the pitch, centre of the goal and it's disappointing we lost those two."

He rejected the idea that his table-toppers had become complacent with promotion in sight, however.

"We got beaten on this given night. We defended poorly at set pieces, there was no complacency whatever. I never once said we were going to do X, Y and Z," he said.

"We've never even spoken about it in the training camp. The lads have never given an indication that they think they're home and dry. We know we've got a bit of work to do, we're still in a terrific position at this moment in time and we'll try to get over the line."

In addition to skipper Grant Holt's absence at the start of a two-match ban, Wes Hoolahan was missing for the third game in a row and Lambert admitted he was "not really close" to being fit for last night's match.

"I have to wait and see how he's going to be. The medical people will look at it him and we'll see how he is," he said.