On Easter Monday Norwich rose to 2nd place after a professional 2-0 victory at home to Sheffield Wednesday. Bradley Johnson scored both goals as Norwich briefly flirted with the top spot, but Bournemouth’s turnaround against Birmingham prevented the Canaries from remaining there come the final whistle. Instead Norwich approached the away trip to Bolton with a new mindset; the idea that automatic promotion is very much a feasible possibility. When an idea is instilled, it manifests, and that eventually showed on the pitch.
Despite Bradley Johnson’s wonderful performance vs Wednesday, he left Alex Neil with a selection headache having picked up a tenth yellow card, and consequently another two-match suspension. In his place, Neil opted for Redmond and Hoolahan behind Jerome. A more notable talking point was the fact that Elliott Bennett and Lewis Grabban were on the bench having returned from injury. Many fans and journalists thought we had seen the last of Grabban for this season after he picked up an unexpected injury. Alex Neil’s cautious and concerned words made it seem like the news was bad, but the medical team worked their magic and thankfully he came through the operation unscathed.
Upon the sounding of the referee’s first whistle, Norwich were the dominant side. The determination was there, and various chances materialised. Redmond’s first involvement drew a free kick on the edge of the box as Josh Vela came in late on the nippy winger. Graham Dorrans was one of three candidates to take the free kick, and his strike on nine minutes ricocheted horribly off the wall, beyond the wrong-footed Bogdan who helplessly watched it nestle into the open net. Very, very lucky, but Norwich’s pressure had perhaps warranted it.
Buoyed by that early goal, Norwich went in search of another. Minutes later Howson played a slick one-two with Jerome before unleashing a well struck shot goalwards. Bogdan managed to parry it with enough force to avert the danger. Norwich then won three corners in succession as Bolton flung the bodies in the way of subsequent shots. Somehow they survived.
Having done so, Bolton raced down the other end and against the run of play, found the equaliser. It was Tom Walker who beat Whittaker on the left hand side, before drilling the ball across the six yard box where the experienced poacher Adam Le Fondre finished in classic fashion. Such a sucker punch for the Canaries, who from that moment on lost their flow. Having evaded the threat of relegation in previous weeks, Bolton were playing with a renewed sense of freedom, and it would prove to be a long afternoon for the away side.
The rest of the first half passed without much worth writing about. A few missed chances for both sides, but predominantly just a scrappy midfield battle with little sticking up front. Jerome’s touch regularly let him down and consequently the teams went into the break one-a-piece.
The second half continued in the same manner, and as each minute passed without a Norwich goal, the nerves grew and grew and grew. Alex Neil threw on Lewis Grabban and Gary Hooper to accompany Jerome as City looked for a winner. He then took off Whittaker for Bennett and pushed Martin wide.
Chances came and went for both sides; Tom Walker continued to cause problems and Gudjonsen came close with a header which Ruddy saved well. Bassong also dominated in the air from various corners but agonisingly couldn’t direct any of them on target.
Bolton had Norwich penned in for the last 5 minutes and it increasingly felt like there was no way out. Alex Neil expressed his anger as the fourth official prepared to award only 3 minutes of added time, but Bolton’s time wasting meant this was extended to five minutes. Dean Moxey was in fact booked in the midst of this for his individual time wasting.
Still Norwich could not get out of their own half. Bolton were a brick wall. The fans, the players, the staff – all simultaneously shaking. The fear of conceding was just as great as not winning. And then, in the ninety-third minute something truly incredible happened. A lofted ball was pumped up to Jerome – and he rose above his marker to flick it on.
Hooper is bearing down on goal. It comes to him. Bounce. Time stands still. Oh no – it’s caught under his feet. Chance gone, surely? But wait…
In one sweeping motion he adjusts his body around the ball like the Earth orbiting the sun, and gets something on it. The magic sphere rises. Up, up, up. All things that go up must come down. And then it does. Hitting the back of the net having lobbed Bogdan.
The Macron erupts.
Or at least a portion of it does. A very happy portion all of a Norwich persuasion. Everyone just loses it; the players, the fans, the management. Tettey collapses, overcome by sheer euphoria. The celebrations are glorious. Somehow Norwich have won it right at the death.
That goal secured the three points despite two nervy minutes afterwards, and consequently Norwich remain second in the Championship. With results going against them elsewhere, a point would have seen them drop to fourth – instead they’ve all but secured play-offs as a minimum this season and are right in the mix for the automatics.
There can be no underestimating the scale of that win.
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[statsfc-player-rater key=”n3hIsXGmdJ6AnSMKzUo6i09cnqzZIPNpYYb7QNmF” team=”Norwich” date=”2015-04-11″]
