Finally, after five games without a win, Norwich City regained the hunt for promotion with a brace from Cameron Jerome securing a 2-1 victory over Bolton Wanderers. A late goal from Lee Chung-Yong after a defensive horror show ensured it would be a tense finish, but some last ditch defending from Michael Turner meant it would be the Canaries that took the three points and jumped up to third – for the time being.
It was an incredibly strange game; perhaps the Halloween spirit effected things. The Barclay was rather subdued and lacklustre, the Bolton fans were as silent as a library and the performance was peculiar. The team played better than in previous weeks and it was a good showing, yet there was still individual errors and some flaws. That said, it could have easily been three- or four-nil.
Bolton started on the front foot, putting the City defence under pressure and tested John Ruddy early on. After the opening five minutes, however, the visitors’ doggedness wore off and they became aware of the task they had in front of them. Norwich’s class and quality brought them through. Eleven minutes played and Norwich broke the deadlock – the supporters didn’t celebrate with joy; it was sheer surprise and relief. A long ball from Martin Olsson was nodded down by goal-scorer Jerome into the feet of Jonny Howson, who then played an exquisite through-ball to tear the Bolton defence to shreds and set Jerome one-on-one with Andrew Lonergan.
Steven Whittaker had a shot blocked and Kyle Lafferty’s long-range drive was gathered by Longeran as Norwich sought to improve their position. It would be 1-0 at half time and the spectators were quietly content. A good first forty-five minutes had yet to bring the City fans out of their shells and they were still nervous and noiseless.
After the break, Nathan Redmond was bright and caused the Bolton defence all sorts of problems, forcing Lonergan into palming his shot over the bar and then being denied by the post after some great work down the right-hand side. Then, just before the hour mark, Gary O’Neil – who was outstanding in the middle of midfield – whipped in a corner to the near post, where it was met by the head of Jerome who nodded in to double City’s lead. Shortly after, Whittaker nearly extended the lead further but was kept out from close range from a fine save. The game changed again with the withdrawals of O’Neil and Jerome on seventy-three minutes, with Adams clearly telling his side to ease off. In response, Bolton started to come back into the game and should’ve scored when Max Clayton was through on goal, but he dragged his shot wide of the post. Some horrific defending four minutes from time enable Lee Chung-Yung to pounce and smash the ball past Ruddy, who was rightly furious with his back four. There was hardly any celebration from the visiting fans – or, if there was, it was inaudible.
City had to hold on for four minutes of added time and did so thanks to Michael Turner. Overall, it was a better performance than seen in the previous two months, with the most vital thing being the three points. Ultimately, the bad run of form should now be over and hopefully we can kick on and march back to the top of the table. Despite Jerome scoring two goals, I’m giving Man of the Match to midfield pivot Gary O’Neil, who controlled the game throughout. When he was brought off, it was clear to see what an influence he had. Other bright sparks included Nathan Redmond’s best performance this season, as well as the defence being solid – apart from the last ten minutes. The five-man midfield enabled Jonny Howson to play in his best position behind the striker, threading through balls for Jerome to race onto. O’Neil ran the game, Tettey was the enforcer in the middle and Lafferty and Redmond brought the pace down the flanks.
