City finally managed to get one over old foe Chris Wilder on Wednesday evening with an impressive 2-1 win over Sheffield United at Carrow Road.
A flat opening 30 minutes saw City deservedly fall behind after Jairo Riedewald’s clinical close-range strike.
But the second-half introduction of playmaker Paris Maghoma changed the game for Norwich, with Philippe Clement’s side a different animal to the opening 45 minutes.
The Blades were finally punished for conceding a series of corners in the 68th minute when Jack Stacey escaped his marker to head home.
The winner came just six minutes from time after City capitalised on a cheap United giveaway to break forward with Maghoma, who played the ball into substitute Amankwah Forson’s path to slot home.
The result leaves Norwich nine points off the play-offs and 10 points clear of the bottom three.
Here are four things that caught my eyes (and ears) during the game.
Ali Ahmed’s corners
Apologies for starting with a bit of a negative, but this caught my eye more than anything.
To put it bluntly, Ali Ahmed kicks the ball like no professional footballer I’ve ever seen.
We can all agree that the Canadian has shown glimpses of real quality since his January move from Vancouver Whitecaps, but in recent games I’ve noticed that he often collapses on the ball when taking corners.
Hopefully I’m not the only one to notice this, or else you’ll think I’m going mad.
His unconventional ball-striking technique (sorry to use that phrase) often leads to limp corners hitting the first man.
I think Ahmed will turn out to be a cracking little player, but hope he’s currently up at Colney working on his corners!
Weird atmosphere
Despite our recent run of impressive results, it all felt a bit flat last night, didn’t it?
Things obviously livened up in and around the two goals, but it felt like that subdued atmosphere translated onto the pitch in the first-half.
It’s hard to put your finger on why. Relative safety from relegation, evening game, the loss to Leeds? I’m not sure.
Let’s hope the players are rewarded with a bouncing Carrow Road on Saturday against Preston North End.
£800k – it doesn’t make sense
You shouldn’t be buying a player of Maghoma’s quality for circa £800k – that’s the top and bottom of it.
The fact that Knapper and Clement have deserves huge credit, particularly from as well run a club as Brentford.
The 24-year-old single-handedly changed last night’s game with his trickery and powerful dribbles forward.
Let’s just hope Premier League eyes aren’t watching.
Errol needs to start
As has been the case a couple of times this season, Tony Springett struggled to impact the game from the start and was replaced at half-time.
That pesky right-wing spot hasn’t been nailed down by anyone since the start of the season, but I’d love to see young Errol Mundle-Smith given a run there.
The 19-year-old arguably had his best game for the club after replacing Mathias Kvistgaarden, showing bravery on the ball and a willingness to get stuck into tackles.
I really do think we could have a special player on our hands with young Errol.
