Jerome haunts the Bluebirds again
NORWICH striker Cameron Jerome scored for the fourth game in a row against his old club Cardiff to continue his hold over them.
And his 40th-minute winner ensured the Canaries made it a hat-trick of league wins.
Many fans at the start of the season would have had Norwich nailed on for automatic promotion. But finishing 2016 on a run of just two wins from 12 league games has killed off any hopes of reducing a 14-point gap to second-placed Brighton.
“Reaching the top two will be difficult,” said Canaries boss Alex Neil said. “We’ll have to go on an incredible run, which we have done before. But we’ll have a real focus on getting into the play-offs.
“We’re starting to hit good form at the right time. This is the time in the season to build momentum. We’ve now won three in a row after a good spell and it feels as if the players have real confidence at the moment.
“Our away form has been poor and I’ve been critical of it. We haven't been doing the ugly side of the game but we more than did that against Cardiff.
“Neil Warnock has got them organised and they'll make it tough for you and you'll get beat if you don’t stand up to them.”
Jerome should have scored with half-an-hour played after latching on to Sean Morrison’s wayward header but Allan McGregor was quick off his line to deny the striker.
But he would make up for that miss just ten minutes later by heading his team in front, doing well to divert Wes Hoolahan’s free-kick past McGregor.
The ex-Birmingham forward has found the net in three of his past four league games for Norwich after failing to score in his previous ten.
Jerome, who made over 70 appearances for the Bluebirds in a two-year spell, has now scored in four successive games against Cardiff.
Neil Warnock’s men wasted a golden opportunity to draw level five minutes from time after substitute Craig Noone’s surge into the box produced a fine save from John Ruddy, and the rebound fell to Kadeem Harris, who somehow blasted his effort over the bar.
The Bluebirds suffered their first Championship home defeat of the new year and will be disappointed that they did not snatch a late point.
Rhys Healey and Harris had strong penalty claims turned down by referee Chris Kavanagh in the latter stages of the second half. And Warnock was seething that either decision failed to go his team’s way.
“I’m disappointed with the penalty appeals,” he said. “Seven out of ten referees would have given them.
“The referee said Healey dived for the first penalty and then for the second one, we’ve got a superhuman linesman from 40 yards away who thought the defender got the ball. I can’t accept it. I’ve heard some excuses but I’ve never heard anything like this.
“The linesman on the far side said the defender got a touch to it, but when you watch again there’s no touch about it. They imagined they got touches.
“I’m really pleased with the lads, so it’s difficult to come out with nothing. We were just not clinical enough, but we’ve shown we can compete with clubs paying £7million for players.
“With the money they spent on their squad, our goalkeeper didn’t have too much to do. It’s just the creativity and the clinical finishing that we miss really.”