Hometown hero Rodriguez fires Burnley to the top

JAY RODRIGUEZ’S penalty sent Burnley top of the Championship after Norwich looked like they had finally steadied their rocking promotion boat. The Burnley-born striker fired home with eight minutes left after Canaries skipper Grant Hanley had flung out an arm as he tried to block Manuel Benson’s cross, and referee Tony Harrington correctly pointed to the spot. Burnley had been frustrated by some desperate Norwich defending, as Dean Smith’s men seemed set to follow their 2-2 result Sheffield United at the weekend with a second successive draw after a dire run of three defeats.

This late loss piled more pressure on Smith, as Norwich have gone on a disastrous run of eight games without a win, garnering one point from the last five games to slip out of the top six. Vincent Kompany’s Burnley team utterly dominated but could not find a way through until Hanley’s mistake. Burnley are unbeaten since August 12 and appear to have remedied their tendency to snatch draws from the jaws of victory, with four wins in the last five. Until the penalty, they had failed to make Angus Gunn make a save despite dominating territory and possession.

Nathan Tella’s shot after just two minutes deflected agonisingly past Gunn’s post as the keeper scrambled frantically to cover it. Anass Zaroury’s header cleared the bar, and the Belgium Under 21 star might have done better after again tricking his way past Max Aarons and firing off a shot. Norwich might have taken the lead but Johann Berg Gudmundsson blocked brilliantly as Teemu Pukki teed up Todd Cantwell. And they almost snatched a point at the death as Pukki got clear but was denied by a brilliant save from keeper Aro Muric.