Norwich City 2 Hartlepool United 1
Norwich City maintained their 3-point advantage over promotion chasing
Leeds after grinding out a 2-1 victory over Hartlepool. It was not the
most convincing performance, but it extended City’s unbeaten run in
League One to 16 games.
All of the goals came within a first half six-minute spell. Hartlepool
were worth their lead after Neil Austin’s long-range scorcher. But
Norwich put on the style and turned the game round with a headed
goal from Cody McDonald and a stunning debut goal from Man of the
Match, Michael Rose.
Rose, who only signed on Friday, on-loan from Stockport for the rest
of the season, had his whole family watching him on his Debut and he
did not look out of place at left back for the injured Adam Drury.
The influential Drury will be missing for a few weeks with the thigh
injury picked up in Tuesday’s 2-1 win at Walsall.
With leading goal-scorer Grant Holt serving the second of his three-
match ban, Paul Lambert rewarded Cody McDonald for his match-
winning goal at Walsall, with only his fifth start of the season. Oli Johnson
was relegated to the bench.
Chris Turner kept faith with the side that drew 1-1 at home with
Gillingham, after Richie Humphreys recovered from the thigh injury he
picked up in that game. The substitutes were unchanged.
The Canaries kicked off defending the Barclay End goal, with Fraser
Forster wearing a cap to cope with the low sun in his eyes.
After the initial low-key skirmishes, Hartlepool won the game's first
corner, right in front of their small band of supporters, but
Humphreys' delivery was easily cleared.
Darel Russell broke up a Hartlepool attack and then initiated a swift
counter-attack, finding Simon Lappin on the left. He carried the ball
down the wing and threaded a pass in behind the defence for
McDonald, but Scott Flanders in the United goal rushed out to claim
the ball.
Colin Larkin then latched onto a through ball behind Nelson on the United
right, but with Forster protecting the City goal, the Irish striker put his right
foot shot well wide of the far post.
Battling Hartlepool won another corner in the 20th minute. Lappin only
half cleared the ball, which, after some head tennis, fell to Gary Liddle,
but his shot went well wide of Forster’s left post.
The visitors then stunned Carrow Road’s largest crowd of the season
by taking the lead when Austin hit a low left foot shot through the City
defence from over 25 yards out, beating Forster's despairing dive to his
left.
However, the lead lasted less than a minute! From the kick-off
McDonald played the ball to Russell Martin on the right wing and
then raced to the far post to meet the resulting cross with a looping
header, which sailed over the flailing arms of the diving Flinders
to nestle in the bottom corner of the net.
Norwich scored what turned out to be the winning goal in the 32nd
minute. Chris Martin played in the overlapping Rose with a perfectly
weighted reverse pass on the left edge of the area and the on-loan full-
back hit a thunderous left-foot shot into the far corner, catching Flinders
by surprise and giving him no chance at all.
Rose then showed another attribute of his game, producing a long throw
deep into the United area, giving the visitors’ defence something else to
think about.
Darel Russell was given a lecture by referee Paul Taylor, when he
reacted angrily to a late tackle from Andy Monkhouse, who was
booked for the challenge.
HALF-TIME: City 2 United 1
The second half, like the first, was slow to get going, with neither
side really in control.
McDonald did show great tenacity and skill just inside the by-line to
go round Hartley and get a cross into the six-yard area. Sadly for City
there were no yellow shirts in there.
In the 59th minute Hartlepool produced a slick move of their own.
Behan was played in behind a static City defence, but Forster was
quickly off his line to block a shot that looked certain to find the back
of the net.
Chris Martin and Austin received a stern lecture from the ref in the
60th minute after the City striker felt he had been fouled by the
defender.
From Lappin’s 64th minute in-swinging corner, Nelson looked to have
been held back by his marker, but it was right under the ref’s nose and
he saw nothing untoward as the ball trickled out for a goal kick.
With 20 minutes left, goal scorer McDonald received a standing ovation
as he was replaced by Johnson. The Hartlepool boss also made changes of
his own, bringing on Richie Jones and Adam Boyd for Humphreys and Behan
respectively.
In the 80th minute the ref was straight out with the yellow card for Boyd,
when he went in with his foot up on Simon Lappin
With less than five minutes to go, Johnson came to life with a jinking
run into the Hartlepool area, but, closely marked by two defenders, his
shot from a narrow angle was deflected out for a corner.
It was taken short to Chris Martin and, from the return ball, Lappin
lifted it to the far post. Russell did well to jump and get his head to
the ball, but it lacked any power and was an easy catch for Flinders.
In the three minutes of added time, City came very close to extending
their lead. A delightful chip over the defence by Chris Martin was
perfect for Johnson to run onto and take into the area before trying to
thread it back to Martin, but Collins whipped the ball off the striker’s
foot as he shaped up to shoot!
FULL-TIME: Norwich City 2 Hartlepool United 1
TEAMS:
City:
Forster (GK), Rose, Nelson, Doherty, Russell Martin, Hoolahan, Lappin,
Russell, Smith. Chris Martin, Cody McDonald (Johnson 70)
Unused Subs: Rudd (GK), Gill, Whitbread, Hughes, McNamee, Kelly.
Hartlepool:
Flinders (gk), Austin, Humphreys (Jones 70), Liddle, Collins ©, Behan
(Boyd 70), Monkhouse, Larkin, Hartley, Gamble
Unused Subs: Cook (GK), Clark, Haslam, Fredriksen, Bjornsson
Goals:
City: C Martin (27), Rose (32)
Hartlepool: Austin (26)
Bookings:
City: None
Hartlepool: Monkhouse (40) Boyd (80)
Referee: Mr Paul Taylor
Attendance: 25, 506