Norwich City continued their push for an instant return to the Premier League with a 2-0 win over Leeds United on Tuesday night.
Former Leeds man Jonny Howson opened the scoring for the away side with a tidy second half finish, before Graham Dorrans secured the victory in the closing minutes.
The opening exchanges offered little chances for either side to take the lead, Leeds keeper Marco Silvestri was called into action the most but had little to deal with that threatened to beat him. Billy Sharp looked lively but was isolated as a lone striker, in a Leeds team that saw on-loan midfielder Granddi Ngoyi make his debut with Sam Byram and Charlie Taylor start on opposite wings.
The first major chance was provided by Norwich. A lack of communication between goalkeeper and defence allowed Jonny Howson to break into the Leeds box, where he was brought down by Liam Cooper – penalty awarded. Graham Dorrans stepped up, and hit the ball onto the bar before United managed to clear. Just minutes later Dorrans had another great chance to put his side in front, his effort from 12 yards out at an exposed net cleared the crossbar.
The intensity of the game picked up in the final few minutes of the half, Cameron Jerome hitting a free kick into the wall from 25 yards out. The sides went into the break at 0-0, in a game that saw Leeds have little chance of taking the lead.
After the break both teams pushed for an opener, Leeds defender Sol Bamba failed to properly connect a header from an Alex Mowatt corner in the opening minutes of the half. Silvestri was called into action again to push away a Russell Martin cross after Liam Cooper mistimed a tackle and was well beaten. Alex Tettey had a shot shortly after which came close from 20 yards, his effort just going over the crossbar.
It was Norwich who eventually took the lead. Midfielder Jonny Howson was left completely unmarked inside the box and finished into the bottom left of the net. There was no celebration from the former Leeds man, regardless of the fact his effort had given his current side the lead. The goal sparked Leeds into life slightly, Scott Wootton had a great effort to equalise just minutes later, cutting inside the box from the right wing but his shot from 6 yards out was deflected wide.
Antenucci was introduced to the action with 20 minutes to go, replacing Charlie Taylor, but did little to help Leeds get back into the game. Sol Bamba made a fine clearance off the goal line to deny Nathan Redmond doubling the visitors lead. Alex Mowatt came very close to drawing the score level, his curling left foot effort from outside the box was saved by Ruddy, who dived down to deny the Leeds man’s shot sneaking into the bottom corner.
Redfearn turned to Brian Montengro in the closing stages of the game, the young South American’s 2nd appearance in a Leeds shirt, but he had little chance to get into the game. Gary Hooper came on for the Canaries, and he came close to scoring, Sol Bamba dispossessing him from close range in the 89th minute. Shortly after, Norwich doubled their lead. Graham Dorrans made amends for his earlier penalty miss, scoring from 18 yards out after Cameron Jerome had battled his way past Berardi. The goal caused mass celebrations in the away dugout, as the goal secured the victory, and kept Norwich in 2nd place with just 3 games to go.
Leeds boss Neil Redfearn, who’s future has been surrounded by much speculation recently, said that: “There is a reason Norwich are second in the table. The difference was the quality of the strikers and the amount of money they have outlaid to bring their players in. For long spells we stifled them, and we could perhaps have done a bit more when we broke on them, but, for large spells, I thought that we played well.”
Norwich manager Alex Neil reflected on his side closing in on a Premier League return by saying: “It was a crucial win. We always work on the basis that our rivals are going to win. We have a job to do and we have come away from two tough fixtures – Bolton and Leeds away – with maximum points.
