Norwich left Leicestershire empty handed after an 89th-minute goal ensured there was no consolation prize for the Canaries, despite possibly their most resilient City defence of the season displayed at the King Power Stadium leaving Alex Neil “gutted” after the effort shown by his team.
Neil made three changes to the team who held on to a draw against West Ham before City’s two-week break. Wes Hoolahan and Sebastien Bassong were forced out of the team after picking up knocks, with O’Neil making way for Alex Tettey after his two-match suspension. Ivo Pinto and Ryan Bennett were welcomed back into the fray in what would prove to be a Man of the Match performance for the former and a long-awaited return for the latter.
Speaking to Norwich City TV, the Scotsman were unworthy of such a cruel defeat after giving their all.
The players give their all. I don’t think anyone could have had any criticism with any of the players today. They worked their absolute socks off. We created the best chances in the game. I thought the shape was excellent. When you take all that into account, nine times out of 10 you walk away with normally the three points or certainly at least a point.
Alex Neil also highlighted his player’s ability to withstand Leicester’s attacking threats with Jamie Vardy unable to set the King Power Stadium alight.
We kept their best players really quiet throughout the match and we had some really good performances throughout our side.
He was also on hand to praise certain individuals in his team:
Russell Martin carried out the role of the sweeper really well today. Alex [Tettey] and Jonny [Howson] performing how they did today that makes the job of the defenders much easier. I thought Jonny Howson was absolutely outstanding on the pitch – I thought he was fantastic.
However, the 34-year-old also woed a lapse in judgement from his side, which later cost his team the crucial point
We didn’t stop the cross coming into the box with a minute and a half to go and unfortuntately it ended up in the back of the net.
I don’t know if it was just tried legs or tired minds but up until that point in the game, we were pressing the ball well and getting up and not letting them to pick passes, and unfortunately at that stage, we drop a little bit too deep, let them knock it wide and it’s a good cross into the box but we didn’t defend it well enough.
It’s really tough to take because we dealt with that type of cross and that type of movement throughout the game for 89 minutes so it wasn’t as if it was anything new but the one time it really mattered, we didn’t do it.
Despite City’s costly late minute goal, Alex Neil hoped the travelling fans and the players would take the positives from the game:
I’m gutted for the players and also for the fans who have travelled up here. I hope they go home relatively satifisfied with the display the boys put in because I think they worked extremely hard for us today.
Norwich host Guus Hiddink’s Chelsea team on Tuesday, with Neil hoping his team, will replicate their performance for the majority of today’s game.
I’m not going to dwell on it too much, we’ve got an game on Tuesday against Chelsea and if the lads continue to put that type of effort and fight like that with our standout performances in the next games coming up, we should be in good shape.
Alex Neil remains determined the fight is not over, despite adding another defeat to their form, with optimism anything can change:
We are in the Premier League, we’re not in the bottom three, we’re fighting for our lives and we want to stay in the Premier League so we certainly won’t give up until the season is done.
As far I’m concerned, a win in the next game, then changes everything again. It’s funny how in this league things can change from week to week so we need to make sure we change it for ourselves because it doesn’t get handed to you.
