Norwich City vs Hull City. Sky Bet Championship.
Carrow RoadAttendance25,666.
Saturday 14 October 2017 18:37, UK
Norwich stretched their unbeaten Sky Bet Championship run to seven matches as an injury-time goal from substitute Nelson Oliveira earned them a 1-1 draw against 10-man Hull at Carrow Road.
The Portuguese striker headed home from the final play of the match to thwart the battling visitors, who had been forced to play the final 40 minutes a man down following the dismissal of key midfielder David Meyler.
The Tigers had gone in front after 29 minutes through a fine finish from Nouha Dicko and defended their advantage in battling fashion, but the home side fully deserved their late leveller which made it three successive home draws to go with three successive away wins.
Norwich went into the game with an unbeaten six-match league run behind them and started brightly, creating two excellent chances in the opening 16 minutes.
James Maddison clipped the outside of the post with a snap shot from just outside the box while it needed an excellent stop from Allan McGregor to foil Yanic Wildschut after he had been put clean through by Mario Vrancic.
The Scottish 'keeper frustrated Wildschut with another good stop after the big Dutchman had cut it from the left but it was Hull who took the lead with 29 minutes gone.
Michael Hector set up the move with a strong challenge on Maddison before finding Markus Henriksen who slid in a delightful through ball for Dicko to run onto and convert.
It was rough justice on Norwich, who had dominated the game up until then, but they came out strongly again after the break and another McGregor save denied James Husband before the visitors were reduced to 10 men after 56 minutes.
Meyler had already been booked for a first-half foul on Maddison and when he unwisely blocked Wildschut in full flight as the Norwich man was trying to launch a quick break there was only one outcome, with a second yellow card being brandished by Keith Stroud.
Not surprisingly it was all Norwich after that and Timm Klose and Maddison both fired wide when well placed. It seemed as though Hull had weathered the storm but Norwich kept going and finally got their reward in the fifth and final minute of injury-time.
A long throw was hurled into the box as Stroud had a look at his whistle and Oliveira leapt highest to guide a close-range header into the back of the net. Norwich boss Daniel Farke ran onto the pitch to celebrate - and there was barely time to restart the game.
Daniel Farke: "To me it is ridiculous we didn't win the game. We had 75 per cent of the possession, 25 shots to their six, and won 65 per cent of the individual duels. We also had a lot of good chances that we didn't take - but despite all the frustrations the players kept going and I was very proud of them.
"We should have won this game but from the position we were in I am obviously delighted we came away with a point, which keeps our unbeaten run going. It wasn't easy because Hull defended very well - and to be honest I wasn't pleased when they had a man sent off because that meant they sat even deeper and it became even more difficult to find space."
Leonid Slutsky: "At the moment I am feeling really terrible inside. For the fifth time we have conceded a late goal which has cost us points - and this was the latest of them all, in the sixth minute of five minutes of injury time. We defended really well for over 35 minutes with 10 men but when you play for that long like that it is always possible to lose concentration for a few seconds.
"It is a very difficult goal to analyse because the long throw comes in and it is a question of who gets the first touch, who reacts first. Depending on which way the ball goes anything can happen. I feel very sorry for the players because it was a good performance considering seven of the side had just come back from international duty - they gave their all but we couldn't quite hold out."
