A comfortable, impressive 3-1 victory against in-form Nottingham Forest is certainly the way to stake your claim for a top two spot, and Norwich City did just that with a superb performance.
It was a first half in which the hosts dominated and deservedly went in leading courtesy of a Howson goal – on his 100th appearance – on the stroke of half time. However, it could have been different; John Ruddy made a pivotal save to deny Antonio after he had been played through one-on-one with the City ‘keeper, spreading himself wide and getting a hand around to beat the ball away. Norwich could’ve broken the deadlock earlier, if only they knew how to take corners – in fact, all of the first four corners for City failed to beat the first man, and it’s simply not good enough. Atlético Madrid have proved how important it is to be proficient at making the most of set pieces, and it is something Norwich fail to do time after time. Then, Jonny Howson poked the ball past Karl Darlow just as the first half was drawing to a close, a neat little pass from the Irish magician Wes Hoolahan setting the ex-Leeds midfielder away to mark his centenary in style.
City started the second half like they had performed during the first; high tempo, good pressing and well on top. Soon after, the pressure told. Martin Olsson raced away down his left flank, using his pace to full effect and cutting inside, drilling a low cross towards top-scorer Cameron Jerome. The striker was coolness personified – with his back to goal, he let the ball come across his body and back-heeled the ball into the net on the turn. An absolutely stunning finish capable of lighting up any game, and Norwich fans were able to relax and could see the three points within their grasp. It got better soon after, with that man Olsson skipping through into the area after a lovely through ball, being brought down by a clip of the heels and the referee had no hesitation. With the usual penalty taker Lewis Grabban out injured, there was surprise when up stepped Hoolahan and not Jerome. However, the Irishman blasted the ball into the Forest goal, sending Darlow sprawling to the other side.
Being 3-0 up, Norwich were cruising and the “Olé!”s were echoing across the Barclay end. There was banter between the two sets of supporters, with Forest fans claiming that Norwich had never won anything, with the home support responding with chants of, “You’re just like Ipswich, you live in the past!”and “You’re not famous any more!” The away fans would have one goal to cheer about though, with a long range drive being spilled by Ruddy right into the path of substitute Chris Burke, who poked it through Ruddy’s legs from six yards out. Not an uncommon error from a once-reliable ‘keeper, but in my opinion, the England international’s decisive save from Antonio in the first half earns him a reprieve.
After that, Norwich were content to sit back and control the game, although Forest had a goal ruled out late on after a scramble from a corner was diverted in but claims of a foul were heard by the referee, yet it was a dubious call. It wasn’t the greatest Norwich City performance ever but it was very impressive; plus, we’ve played better and lost games before. Three points gained and Ipswich beating Watford and Middlesborough losing were welcome results; the hunt for automatic promotion goes on.
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[statsfc-player-rater key=”n3hIsXGmdJ6AnSMKzUo6i09cnqzZIPNpYYb7QNmF” team=”Norwich” date=”2015-03-21″]
