Premier League hat-trick came against Charlton Athletic on 19 March 2005 after coming on as a substitute with 30 minutes remaining, scoring the first Premier League hat-trick scored by a West Bromwich Albion player. The hat-trick also meant the Earnshaw became the only player to have scored hat-tricks in all four professional divisions in England, the FA Cup, League Cup and in an international fixture. Although goals such as these helped the club retain their Premiership status, manager Bryan Robson preferred to use him from the bench as an impact player rather than as a starter. Nevertheless, Earnshaw finished as Albion's top goalscorer for that season with 14 goals, earning him the Ronnie Allen trophy. He remained in the squad for 2005–06, although West Brom signed several additional forwards including Diomansy Kamara and Nathan Ellington as competition for places became more significant. In December 2005, Earnshaw submitted two transfer requests, but both were rejected. However, in January 2006 manager Bryan Robson said that Earnshaw would be allowed to leave, assuming there was a fair transfer fee on offer. Following his departure, Earnshaw criticised Robson over his treatment at the club and the lack of first team opportunities given to him. Robson rejected Earnshaw's claims and commented "the percentages when I used Earnshaw compared to the points we collected just don't stack up." Norwich City On transfer deadline day, 31 January 2006, Earnshaw signed a three-and-a-half-year contract for Norwich City for a fee of £2.75 million (rising to £3.5 million). Signed as a replacement for Dean Ashton, After making his debut in a 2–1 defeat to Ipswich Town on 5 February 2006, he opened his Norwich goal scoring account with a brace, late on in Norwich's 3–0 home win against Brighton on 14 February 2006. Earnshaw went on to score six further goals in the remaining matches of the 2005–06 season. The following season, he enjoyed a prolific start to the campaign, including braces against Barnsley, Southend United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, and, by January 2007, Earnshaw was the top-goalscorer in the division with 17 goals. He suffered a severe groin injury in training soon after, that was expected to rule him out of action for the rest of the season. However, he returned to first team action in April 2007 to score his 18th and 19th goals of the season against Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday. Derby County His goalscoring exploits