- Mattsson’s fifth-minute strike at The Valley sealed a 1-0 win for Norwich
- Danish midfielder’s first goal for the club came after ankle injury layoff
- Norwich sit ninth points off the play-offs with seven matches still remaining
Pelle Mattsson scored his first City goal to secure a 1-0 win at Charlton Athletic on Saturday, and the Danish midfielder insists the squad must now prove its ambitions in the final stretch of the season.
The Canaries now sit 10th on 54 points from 39 games, nine points off the play-offs with seven games left. The maths is not too promising, but Mattsson’s fifth-minute strike at The Valley extended a run that has brought five wins from six games, and the 24-year-old wants his teammates to keep pushing.
“To score my first goal for Norwich, I’ve been waiting a bit for it, so it was nice seeing the ball fly into the net. It was a proud moment,” Mattsson told BBC Radio Norfolk.
Mattsson’s contribution highlighted the need, as demanded by Philippe Clement, for Norwich to find goals from across the squad.
“It’s really important that we’re not only relying on our strikers, because they can play a good game although they’re not scoring,” he said. “We need everybody to score goals.”
Recovery, return, and what comes next
Mattsson signed from Danish Superliga side Silkeborg last summer and, after a slow start, has become a regular through his high energy and ball retention rather than efforts in the attacking third. He unfortunately missed the whole of February with an ankle injury picked up during the home win against Coventry.
“I would like to score a few goals per season to contribute with that,” he told The Pink Un. “It’s not my strong side, but it’s something I can maybe develop in my game.”
A goal from the edge of the area off Ali Ahmed’s pass offered a different route than a centre-forward finish.
After a good first half for City at The Valley, the hosts built up a head of steam in the second half, roared on by their feisty manager, Nathan Jones. They hit the crossbar through Kayne Ramsay and had penalty appeals turned away, but, of course, City held on. Mattsson acknowledged the game should have been put to bed sooner.
“I think we had multiple chances throughout the game that we should have scored on,” he said. “When you don’t take advantage of those chances, then it ends up being a bit scrappy in the end. But in the end, it’s the three points that matter.”
Mattsson pointed to the shift in mentality after City’s awful start to the campaign, “There’s been a huge improvement. You can’t really imagine we were in the bottom three some time ago. The performances have been really good, not only the results.”
Six or seven wins from seven games is a big ask, but with Clement in charge, the club’s credibility has been restored in a short space of time, and Mattsson is demanding “big ambitions” in the final stretch.
Next up: Portsmouth at Carrow Road on Good Friday. They couldn’t could they?
