Norwich City vs West Bromwich Albion. Sky Bet Championship.
Carrow RoadAttendance25,180.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Norwich City and West Brom at Carrow Road on Saturday | Josh Sargent and Jonathan Rowe score to seal a win to boost Canaries play-off hopes.
Saturday 20 January 2024 18:27, UK
Norwich recorded a hard-fought 2-0 win over West Brom to move to within four points of the fifth-placed Baggies in the Championship promotion race.
The Canaries found themselves on the back foot for long periods at Carrow Road but made two of their chances count to stay on the fringes of the play-off picture.
Josh Sargent scored his second goal since returning from an ankle injury to set the ball rolling early on before top scorer Jon Rowe doubled their advantage midway through the second half with his 13th strike of a highly productive campaign.
The Baggies had plenty of opportunities to get themselves back in the game after the interval but failed to take advantage of them and now find a number of sides breathing down their necks in what looks like being a tight race for a place in the top six.
The visitors enjoyed most of the possession in the early stages but it was Norwich who took the lead after 13 minutes through their first incisive attack of the game.
Kenny McLean was quick to spot Sargent's run when a Baggies attack broke down and the American burst into the box before beating Alex Palmer with a shot that appeared to go through the keeper.
Norwich twice went close to doubling their lead on the half-hour mark with Rowe twice trying his luck from just outside the box with efforts that were well saved by Palmer.
West Brom had a couple of reasonable shouts for penalties turned down by referee Sunny Singh Gill as first Brandon Thomas-Asante and then Darnell Furlong went tumbling in the box but struggled to create clear-cut openings in a tight first half.
They did have the ball in the net just before the break but Thomas-Asante had clearly used his arm to control the ball before tucking Conor Townsend's low cross past Angus Gunn.
John Swift and Jed Wallace both fired presentable opportunities just wide as Albion made a strong start to the second period but Norwich were defending well to keep them at bay.
Thomas-Asante then saw his flicked header well clutched by Gunn before Norwich made another breakaway count to make it 2-0 after 71 minutes.
Gabriel Sara found space in a central area before switching it left to Dimi Giannoulis and the Greek's first-time cross was turned in from close range by Rowe to put some distance between the two sides.
Baggies substitute Daryl Dike failed to make the most of two good openings as the visitors kept pressing but David Wagner's saw the game out to seal an important win.
Norwich's David Wagner:
"I thought it was a superb performance from the lads, they kept up a high level for the whole game.
"We scored two good goals, showed lots of energy throughout and also defended well to keep a clean sheet - there were a lot of good things out there and we are in a good place now and we will keep on pushing.
"Where it takes us I don't know but what I can say is that we are moving in the right direction and are competitive in this division."
West Brom's Carlos Corberan:
"It is important we feel the pain of this defeat because only then can we have the desire to improve and put things right.
"We had some good chances in this match, especially in the second half.
"Had we taken one of those right at the start of the half it might have been a different outcome. We just needed to be a lot more clinical in front of goal.
"If you don't take your chances you are not going to win football matches and that is something we need to work on.
"It is very frustrating because we knew what the game would be like. They are a good side and we knew they would be a threat on transitions.
"That is what happened and we needed to defend them a lot better."
