Norwich City vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
Carrow RoadAttendance25,650.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Norwich City and QPR at Carrow Road on Saturday | Ui-jo Hwang nets winner for Canaries in narrow victory for David Wagner's side.
Saturday 25 November 2023 18:46, UK
Norwich put their home woes behind them with a hard-fought 1-0 win over QPR in a scrappy Championship encounter.
The Canaries had lost their three previous matches at Carrow Road to heap the pressure on head coach David Wagner but got the three points this time around thanks to a well-taken 21st-minute goal from on-loan striker Hwang Ui-jo.
It was a lacklustre showing from the hosts but this was all about the result which followed a 3-2 win in their previous game at Cardiff and lifted them to the fringes of the play-off picture.
For Rangers, it was a first defeat under new boss Marti Cifuentes after a couple of draws but they competed well in an instantly forgettable game and would have had some reward for their efforts had their finishing matched their often attractive approach play.
It was Rangers who made the better start, enjoying plenty of possession, but they couldn't make it count and it was the hosts who got their noses in front midway through the fast half.
A simple ball through the centre from Gabriel Sara caught the visiting defence napping and Hwang was left free to advance on goal before burying an unstoppable low shot into the bottom corner.
Aside from a back-post effort from Jack Stacey that was headed clear from underneath his own bar by Steve Cook, it proved to be Norwich's only on target effort of the opening period - but fortunately for Wagner's men their opponents lacked the punch to go with their neat approach work.
Lyndon Dykes nodded a corner from Kenneth Paal just wide and a well-struck effort from Osman Kakay was comfortably gathered by George Long but they were rare moments of alarm for the Canaries.
Paal tested Long with a powerful low shot and Ilias Chair fired just over from distance as Rangers again came out of the blocks quickly after the break.
Norwich were still looking reasonably comfortable, however, although efforts on goal were still at a premium in what was becoming an increasingly scrappy encounter.
Chair had an curling shot deflected just wide after cutting in from the left and Sam Field directed an effort just wide from a good position in stoppage time but the home side saw the game out.
Norwich's David Wagner:
"I think a 1-0 win like that is perhaps the best sort of win for me in the circumstances.
"Everyone knows we can score goals - the stats tell you that - but we have been conceding too many goals and to keep a clean sheet was very pleasing.
"We were very organised defensively, kept them as far away from our goal as possible, and didn't give them many chances.
"The guys out there all did their job because as a team we need to be more solid than we have been.
"Was it our most entertaining game offensively? No, but you can't always score two or three goals to win a game and that is back-to-back wins now, which feels good, certainly much better than it did a few weeks ago."
QPR's Marti Cifuentes:
"In the three games since I took over we have competed well and certainly haven't been worse than any of our opponents.
"I have seen some good things in all our performances - and I have seen improvements again today.
"We were well organised and played the ball around well at times but the most important thing here is the result and I am obviously not happy with that.
"What we need is more sharpness in the final third, in and around the box. We need to be able to penetrate and score goals, otherwise all the other good things don't count for anything.
"What I have seen here so far both during games and on the training pitch is a group of players who are committed to the cause and are working hard to turn things around - now we need to get the results to go with that."
