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In the first minute he awarded United a dubious free kick just outside the Norwich penalty area. Michael Brown curled the ball inside Robert Green's right-hand post to give the visitors a shock lead after just 78 seconds.
It got worse for the home fans in the seventh minute when Iffy Onuora headed on Rob Kozluk's long throw from the right and Michael Tonge steered the ball in from six yards.
Mr Dowd then booked Darren Kenton for what appeared to be a perfectly fair tackle on Onuora after 22 minutes.
The home fans became even more perplexed just before the half-hour when they saw their manager Nigel Worthington sent from the bench by Mr Dowd after he had spoken to an assistant referee.
However, there were few complaints when Kenton mistimed his tackle on Tonge inside the City penalty area.
Ex-Canary Robert Ullathorne was booked for dissent, presumably wanting to know why Kenton had not been shown a second yellow card.
Up stepped Carl Asaba, a 25th minute substitute for the injured Brown, and he sent the keeper the wrong way with a right-foot shot inside Green's right-hand upright.
Malky Mackay came on as a substitute for the injured Craig Fleming just after this goal and six minutes later Mackay got an elbow from Onuora and the Blades striker was sent off after Mr Dowd had once again consulted an assistant.
The ten men hung on for most of the second half and goals from Paul McVeigh and Mackay late on were not enough to salvage the Canaries' long unbeaten run