SORRY CANARIES HIT BY KRUL LUCK
GARY ROWETT hailed his Stoke side’s defensive resolve after seeing them beat Norwich to make it seven points from nine league games.
The Potters were on the back foot for long periods at Carrow Road, but soaked up the pressure in impressive fashion to come away with a hard-fought victory, thanks to a slice of good fortune.
“I thought we showed another side of our game today,” said Rowett. “We didn’t come here expecting to be pushed so deep and have so little of the possession, but Norwich made it very difficult for us.
“We had to dig and we put in a concentrated, disciplined performance to come away with the points.
“We got our bit of luck with the own goal, but the players deserve a lot of their praise for the way they performed.”
The win followed hard on the heels of a draw at Rotherham and a home win over Bolton and Rowett is pleased to be going into the break with some upward momentum.
“People were writing us off after 10 games, but there is still a long way to go, almost a Premiership season if you like, and we have plenty of time to close the gap on the leading sides,” he added.
The fact the game was settled by an own goal summed up Norwich’s luck on the day.
A slick move down the right saw Tom Ince feed the overlapping Cuco Martina and as the ball zipped in over the greasy surface, Timm Klose’s attempted interception ended up in the back of the home net.
The Canaries were dominant for long periods and created a number of good chances in both halves, but Jack Butland produced a couple of good stops when required, the pick of them coming early on when he thwarted a fiercely-struck effort from defender Jamal Lewis.
Norwich manager Daniel Farke was feeling hard done by after the game.
“If we had got just one point from this game it would still have been too little,” he said. “I am totally proud of they way the lads dominated a side who have a lot of good, Premiership players in their side.
“We won more duels and more headers than Stoke, had more shots and created more chances. In the second half we had 75 percent of the possession, but we end up losing to a very unfortunate goal.”
Norwich pushed hard after the interval, although clear-cut chances were in short supply.
Marco Stiepermann stung Butland’s palms with a rasping 20-yard drive as the home momentum continued to build, with Stoke firmly on the back foot but defending well.
Teemu Pukki was next to try his luck, sending a long range effort straight at Butland, while at the other end a rare break from the visitors ended with Ince curling a shot just wide.
A final flurry saw Moritz Leitner fire a snapshot just wide from just inside the area, but the visitors held out for the three points.