SUPER MARIO DOES IT AGAIN
MARIO VRANCIC broke Wycombe’s hearts with his second late winner of the week.
The Bosnian came off the bench to down Birmingham on Tuesday – and repeated the trick with a perfect free-kick in added time here.
And that added up to another day of frustration for the Chairboys, who were so close to a deserved first Championship point.
Wycombe, who have now lost all seven matches in their second-tier debut season, should have had a penalty at 1-1 that might have seen a red card shown.
Former Burnley defender Ben Gibson was booked for stopping Fred Onyedinma racing clear – and was lucky not to give away a penalty.
The centre-back was the wrong side of Onyedinma and certainly put an arm on the Wycombe forward.
But referee Gavin Ward decided to wave play on and the visitors were left bitterly frustrated once again.
Manager Gareth Ainsworth was doing his best to remain postive afterwards and said: “These boys will stay up without a shadow of a doubt if they keep playing like that.
“How we haven’t got a penalty is unbelievable. But we’re little Wycombe – we’re not getting things at the moment.
“That team we were facing today is designed to go straight back up to the Premier League, so we have given a fantastic performance.”
It took Norwich less than three minutes to take the lead through Teemu Pukki, with a goal which highlighted the defensive frailties which have seen Wycombe concede a Championship-high
15 goals so far.
Emi Buendia threaded a simple pass straight through the defence for the Finn to run on to and slot past keeper Ryan Allsop.
Pukki fired another golden chance wide on the turn straight after and the visitors had Curtis Thompson to thank for stopping the striker setting Jordan Hugill up for a tap-in.
It could have been 3-0 but suddenly, in the
12th minute, Wycombe were level.
And Grant Hanley and Tim Krul won’t want to see any replays.
David Wheeler nodded on Joe Jacobson’s long ball and the Norwich pair assumed the other would deal with it.
In nipped Scott Kashket to register the Chairboys’ second Championship goal. He had already scored the other one and was intent on grabbing even more.
Norwich looked shellshocked. Kashket saw a header saved and nodded another into the side-netting after Anthony Stewart had gone even closer from a corner.
The hosts were sent back out early for the second half but Wycombe’s tails remained firmly up, especially when Daryl Horgan blocked Hanley’s header on the line.
Onyedinma’s foul on Vrancic on the edge of the box spoiled it all though as the sub picked himself up and curled the free-kick into the top corner.
Allsopp didn’t even move.
Adam Idah was shown a straight red for clashing with Jacobson soon after.
Norwich boss Daniel Farke, who takes his side to Brentford on Tuesday night, said: “Mario is like a talisman.
“I’m not unbelievably in love with our game – but I’m pretty in love with our mentality and the result.”
NORWICH: Krul 6; Aarons 6, Hanley 5, Gibson 5, Quintilla 7; Skipp 5 (Vrancic (68th) 8), Rupp 7 (Placheta 86th); Buendia 5, Pukki 6, Cantwell 6; Hugill 6 (Idah (58th) 7)
Allsopp 7; Grimmer 7, Knight 8, Stewart 8, Jacobsen 7; Horgan 6 (Bloomfield 84th), Adeniran 6, Thompson 7, Onyedinma 7; Wheeler 7 (Akinfenwa 90th), Kashket 7 (Ikpeazu (69th) 5) Anthony Stewart
G Ward