Gary Hooper scored an exquisite half-volley to put ten-man Norwich into the lead and briefly into second place, before Rotherham found a late equaliser to all but condemn Norwich to the playoffs.
Tettey, Whittaker and Jerome were replaced by Redmond, Bennett and Grabban respectively, with the recent fixture congestion evidently taking its toll.
The game began in a highly contested manner, with the traveling Norwich fans creating a raucous atmosphere. It was edgy; there were clearly nerves for both sides. With Rotherham having been docked three points for fielding an ineligible player on Friday, they were in need of a result. Equally, Norwich’s loss to Middlesbrough had left them no longer at the front of the queue for automatic promotion, with the prospect of the playoffs becoming increasingly likely. However, Norwich enjoyed a strong start, dominating possession, forcing Rotherham back. They seemed perfectly happy to try and weather the early threat.
Referee Mark Brown quickly came into the limelight, awarding Norwich a series of decisions to which the home fans grew agitated. Rotherham sat back and let Norwich play the ball but sometimes lacked impetus. Redmond struggled to leave his mark on the game, stranded out on the left, with his natural instinct being to come inside and shoot. One of his few productive runs ended with a well struck shot, but a small deflection took the sting out of it without dangerously diverting the general path of the ball. Grabban also came reasonably close with a twist and shot which dragged comfortably wide but it was a sign of City’s intent.
Perhaps the crucial turning point of a first half otherwise lacking in quality was the red card which was awarded to Lewis Grabban. The offence: a small dig to the stomach of Rotherham’s Morgan after the two had become entangled. Mark Brown quickly blew his whistle, reached to his back pocket, and pulled out the red card. There were few to no complaints from Grabban, nor boss Alex Neil; just an eyebrow raised in disappointment as the disgraced striker walked slowly down the tunnel. Hooper quickly warmed up before he regrettably replaced the openly frustrated Hoolahan who was sacrificed for the new 10-man game plan.
From then on, Rotherham’s cautious respect for Norwich started to erode and they began to dominate. Russell Martin was regularly ripped apart down the right side while Ryan Bennett put in a far more competent performance at centre-half. The home side nearly found the breakthrough as a golden opportunity came to Danny Ward but he miscued the shot, skewing it badly wide. Consequently, Ward was taunted by the away end who were more relieved than anything else.
The referee came under further scrutiny from the away end despite most fans either agreeing Grabban was in the wrong, or saw too little to argue otherwise. It was his constant awarding of free kicks to Rotherham that yielded unsavory comments sung in unison, each chant directed solely at the man in the middle. Every fifty-fifty – Rotherham. Any hint of a nudge – Rotherham. Each and every opportunity to award a foul – Rotherham. By the end of the match, one away fan even described it as ‘the worst refereeing performance I’ve seen in a long time’, and his inability to control the game was no more prevalent than in the first half where tempers were soaring.
A late surge of pressure at the end of the first half came from City as Olsson received the ball in a very wide position, and powerfully shot goalwards, almost catching the ‘keeper out. A strong parry was required to deny the strike from sneaking in at the near post. The resulting corner, as usual, was badly delivered and posed little threat.
After the break proceedings very much continued as they were, with City being limited with what they could and couldn’t do due to that early red card. Norwich’s game plan was always going to be to defend and then hope that any chance that did fall their way was taken.
Redmond enjoyed his brightest period of the game and in the fifty-ninth minute surged forward sending the so-far resilient Millers back four into chaos. Hooper offered support to his left and the young winger just about slipped the ball through to him. In fact, it got trapped under his feet, but with a little scramble and a bobble, it sat up beautifully. The experienced English striker needed no further invitation. Bang. The ball left Hooper’s foot with a devilish spin that sailed high and fast and well out of the reach of Martinez, before entering the top corner of the Rotherham net. A half chance, manipulated into an outstanding finish. Rampant away fans surged down the steps towards the pitch, with one fan even running onto the turf despite the stewards’ best efforts. It was a strike worthy of winning any match.
But there was still thirty minutes to go, and with ten men, that seemed for Norwich about double the time.
Rotherham pushed and pushed and pushed. They had absolutely nothing to lose; at that point Millwall were beating Derby and so they had dropped into the bottom three.
The atmosphere, although impeccably loud, buoyed by the admiration of Hooper’s finish, had an underlying feeling of nervousness. A feeling which only grew as Rotherham continued to throw everything at it.
Lee Frecklington went ridiculously close and was somehow denied by Ruddy from close range, and various other corners posed potential disaster, especially with last week lingering in the memory. Matt Derbyshire then shocked the 11,498 in attendance when he missed what can only be described as an absolute ‘sitter’.
Fortunately for the home team, the goal eventually came. Unfortunately for the 2300 away fans, it came late on with little time left to turn it around. Adam Hammill crossed from the left, and the ball seemed to hang lifelessly in the air for a long while. Then, rising was Jordan Bowery, who headed the ball hard and beyond Ruddy. Goal.
Even with the five minutes added on, Norwich could not turn it around. They were dead on their feet. That goal had killed them, sealing the fate of the play-offs, and the players had nothing left to give (especially as they’d played three quarters of the game a man down).
Norwich fans left with glum faces, frustrated at what they had seen. Admittedly, Norwich had not played especially well, but having gone one up with such a glorious goal, it was a sour one to swallow.
Had Norwich beaten Boro and won again today (as they were capable of doing), they would have been promoted. It just shows the fine margins of the Championship and the consequences that entail when teams fail to meet such high demands. It’s been up and down – a season of ifs and buts.
Still, a guaranteed spot in the play-offs and the chance to go to Wembley – a reality that looked increasingly inconceivable under Neil Adams.
Norwich fans can soon get very, very excited all over again. “Bring it on”.
[statsfc-player-rater key=”n3hIsXGmdJ6AnSMKzUo6i09cnqzZIPNpYYb7QNmF” team=”Norwich” date=”2015-04-25″]
