After the dramatic week, in which we’d taken seven points out of a possible nine and staved off being dragged clearly into the relegation mix, and ahead of an international break, we went into this one with the feeling that a draw would be a reasonable return. We knew the form Norwich have been in of late – although their midweek defeat at Southampton probably finished off any thoughts on their part of a dramatic surge to reach the play-offs. So perhaps, just perhaps, they might be starting to think of their holidays, feel tired, and they had injuries.
In any event, we knew we would have to be at our best to get a result, which meant keeping the defence mean and tight and nicking one or two at the other end. We didn’t manage either. Over the full game Norwich deserved their win, despite their appalling time-wasting. They could have been more than one up at the break, but the second half was an even affair and either side might have scored. We hit the bar, were denied a possible penalty, had shots blocked, and nothing quite fell where it needed to inside their box. By the same token we had Mannion to thank for three or four excellent saves. We wanted the result to be like against Birmingham, it ended up being a repeat of Wrexham. Remarkably, in our last seven games now neither side has scored more than one, with a total of just 10 combined.
The team showed just one (predictable) change from Oxford, with Dykes returning and Leaburn dropping back to the bench, where Mitchell would lose his place. Mannion continued to keep out Kaminski, while Ramsay, Jones and Bell would again be flanked by Clarke and Chambers, Docherty and Coventry continuing to keep out Coady (and Rankin-Costello), with Carey in the more advanced role, while Campbell kept his starting place, leaving Kelman among the subs.
We struggled from the start to work out and counter Norwich’s system, with a mobile forward creating space and plenty coming through to exploit it. They kept the ball well and moved it forward to good effect. Perhaps we were too focused on defending our box and paid the price. It took them only four minutes to go ahead, a poor goal from our perspective. Ball played square to a guy just outside the box. His first touch was heavy and that perhaps made up his mind for him, as he ran to get there first, before a couple of converging defenders, and put in a good strike across Mannion into the far corner. Mannion got a touch on it but not enough to send it wide. The guy was just allowed too much space and not closed down quickly enough.
The worst thing was there was a repeat performance on 13 minutes. Similar position, simple ball played into a guy with more time than he should have had. The shot was almost identical but with a little less power and this time Mannion was able to turn it away for a corner. The third of their real first-half chances came on 25 minutes as a Charlton attack broke down and Norwich poured forward at pace. Their guy cut inside Jones inside the box and although under pressure he should have done better than to send his effort wide.
In return we offered some balls into the box, with Clarke’s long throws continuing to cause chaos, plenty of effort, and a blocked shot or two. But we hadn’t really tested their keeper and at half-time we were really pleased to still be in the game, aware that we would need to improve to get anything from the game.
We did improve in the second half and several times were just a whisker away from equalising. That said, Norwich first came closest to adding to their lead, Mannion just managing to divert a low cross away from a guy sliding in at the far post. Shortly after that Jones the Boss made the first change, on 56 minutes bringing on Leaburn for Chambers, with Campbell moving to left-side wing-back. And that change sparked a spell of near misses.
TC made it down the by-line and played the ball in for Docherty, but the angle was tight and his effort was blocked for a corner. From that corner Ramsay got to the ball only for his header to come back off the bar, Clarke’s shot was then blocked and when the ball was sent in again Jones was pulled to the floor. No question he was being held, but whether it was enough to merit a penalty was unclear. But VAR would have given it and nobody would have been really surprised if it had been (contrast it with the daft penalty the ref gave Oxford for Ramsay’s challenge). Then another Campbell cross was met by Clarke coming in at the far post, but he was unable to control his header.
After that flurry of near misses Norwich did have a chance or two of their own. A guy’s shot was deflected and Mannion had to adjust to save, then had to get up quickly to get to the ball before one of theirs did. Mannion was to save again from a deflected shot.
On 71 minutes we changed formation with Fevrier coming on for Coventry, moving to a 4-4-2. And by now Norwich were happy to revert to time-wasting. OK, we would probably have done the same, but the ref was guilty of weakness in the face of it. He gave a yellow card to one guy then ignored the rest for the remainder of the game, finally adding on far too few stoppage time minutes. We still had chances, with Kelman and Rankin-Costello introduced for Campbell and Ramsay. On 94 minutes we almost grabbed a point as a long throw was half-cleared, Kelman dummied and turned well to send the ball back into the box, but Carey’s shot went wide, despite the efforts of Rankin-Costello to divert it goalwards. Dykes won a corner at the last, with Mannion joining those in the box. But it was cleared and the game was prematurely brought to an end.
In these last goals-starved seven games we’ve come out on top 1-0 in two of them, drawn three of them 1-1, and lost two 0-1. When the games are that tight you really can’t complain when you lose. Nine points from the seven. With seven games left we’d be very happy to take the same return, end the season on 55 points, which would surely be enough to stay up. The gap to the bottom three is still nine points and another round of games has been chalked off, the disappointment being WBA’s win at Bristol City, the relief being Leicester not converting a penalty which might have secured them a win at Watford. We are keeping our heads above water – and long may that continue.
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