Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)

SUPER MARIO THE LATEST & GREATEST

- BY JON WEST ANTHONY STEWART (WYCOMBE)

MARIO VRANCIC is the supersub who wishes he was anything but.

For the third time in a week the Canaries turned a draw into a dramatic late victory.

Vrancic’s stoppage-time freekick was pure perfection, over the wall from 20 yards.

The Bosnian had downed Birmingham from open play with just three minutes remaining on Tuesday, and that followed Jordan Hugill’s last-minute penalty winner at Rotherham.

The Canaries have gained 13 points from their first seven Championsh­ip games but they have been leading for just 13 of those 630 minutes on the pitch.

And Vrancic (above) admitted a longing for a less stressful life.

He said: “I’m happy about the goal and I’m happy about the win but I’d rather prefer us not to be winning so late all the time.”

Wycombe still have zero points on the board but deserved something from this one. Their defence allowed Teemu Pukki to stroll through and score after just three minutes and it could easily have been 3-0 soon afterwards. But when Scott Kashket nipped in to level, it was a different game.

Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth, his players, his coaching staff, his subs and even the directors were constantly howling at referee Gavin Ward.

Ainsworth said: “It was almost play-off-esque, hearing them all appealing and shouting.

“We’re all in this together. I’ve got some big characters in that dressing-room.”

Norwich sub Adam Idah faces a three-match ban for his stoppageti­me red card for retaliatio­n on Joe Jacobson.

NORWICH CITY: Krul 6, Aarons 6, Hanley 5, Gibson 5, Quintilla 7, Skipp 5 (Vrancic 68, 8), Rupp 7 (Placheta 86), Buendia 5, Pukki 6, Cantwell 6, Hugill 6 (Idah 58, 7).

WYCOMBE: Allsopp 7, Grimmer 7, Knight 8, Stewart 8, Jacobsen 7, Horgan 6 (Bloomfield 84), Adeniran 6, Thompson 7, Onyedinma 7,

Wheeler 7 (Akinfenwa 90), Kashket 7 (Ikpeazu 69, 5).

MOTM

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