Fan-tastic show delights Wagner

DAVID WAGNER hailed his players for putting a smile back on Norwich fans’ faces.

The Canaries boss saw his side thumped 6-2 at Plymouth last weekend before being knocked out of the Carabao Cup at Fulham.

The latter was a decent enough showing – but Norwich knew they still owed the supporters who racked up 600 miles to witness the Devon disaster.

Second-half strikes from Gabriel Sara and Jon Rowe saw off Blues and Wagner led the team in a theatrical bow to the stands afterwards.

He said: “This game that we no longer like to speak about – we can put that to bed now.

”It was a one-off which you don’t like to have.

“The players learned absolutely their lessons – this is what they showed today.”

Adam Idah and Dimi Giannoulis both went close early on for Norwich, who moved up to seventh.

The second half opened with chances for both sides.

But Sara nodded Norwich ahead in the 55th minute from Giannoulis’ cross from the left. He nipped in front of Kevin Long to convert from six yards.

Rowe made it 2-0 five minutes later with a burst into the box and finish for his sixth goal of the season.

Koji Miyoshi hit the Norwich bar and Jay Stansfield and sub Jordan James also squandered late opportunities to leave Blues winless in September.

Manager John Eustace said: “Everyone could see we had two or three really good chances.

“But someone has got to stand up and say, ‘I want to be the man who scores the goals.’”

NORWICH: Gunn 6; Stacey 6, Duffy 6, Gibson 6, Giannoulis 7; Sara 7 (Batth (90) 5), Mclean 6; Fassnacht 6 (Hernandes (57) 5), Rowe 7 (Sainz (90) 5), Placheta 6 (Hwang (56) 5); Idah 7 (Forshaw (67) 5) BIRMINGHAM: Ruddy 6; Drameh 5, Sanderson 6, Long 5, Longelo 6; Bielik 7 (James (79) 5), Sunjic 5 (Bacuna (59) 5); Burke 5 (Dembele (59) 5), Miyoshi 6 (Gardner (79) 5), Stansfield 7; Hogan 6 (Jutkiewicz (76) 5) STAR MAN: Dimi Giannoulis – Defender helped keep a clean sheet. REF: Gavin Ward 6