Mark Burchett and John Maiden report on the Canaries' record-breaking
eleventh consecutive home win.
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)
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