PUKKI GETS LUCKY FOR LATE WINNER
NORWICH 4 MILLWALL 3
NORWICH City moved back to the top of the Championship with an incredible victory over Millwall.
Having thrown away a 2-1 lead in the closing stages to go 2-3 behind, the Canaries scored twice in injury-time to take the points as five goals flew in after the 78th minute.
Substitute Jordan Rhodes got them level and then, with the six minutes of added time up, Teemu Pukki bundled a loose ball home off his shins to stretch his side’s winning run in the league to five games.
Dejected Millwall booss Neil Harris branded his side’s injurytime defending “unacceptable”. “My six-year-old daughter plays in an under-seven team and they would have been disappointed to concede the two goals we did at the end,” he added.
Millwall were the better side in the opening stages and fully deserved to go ahead in the 24th minute. A deep free-kick found defender Jack Cooper, who headed into the danger area, where Elliott nodded comfortably past keeper Tim Krul.
Millwall keeper Ben Amos then produced a smart reaction stop when Timm Klose met Moritz Leitner’s corner with a firm header before the Canaries had the ball in the net in the 39th minuite. Defender Christoph Zimmerman turned away in triumph after thumping the ball home – but the assistant’s flag was raised off offside.
The momentum was now with Daniel Farke’s side and they got back on level terms after the restart. A swift attack ended with Marco Stiepermann putting in a low cross that was converted first-time by Pukki at the near post. The Canaries should have made it 2-1 in the 58th minute when they were awarded a penalty after Onel Hernandez’s goalbound shot was handled by Murray Wallace. Pukki’s poor effort was comfortably saved by Amos.
But Norwich finally got the second goal they deserved 11 minutes from time A half clearance fell nicely for Leitner a couple of yards outside the box and he drilled the ball back with interest, with a venomous low drive nestling in the bottom corner.
The hosts were ahead for less than a minute From the kick-off the Lions worked the ball forward and when Jamal Lewis fluffed his attempted clearance the ball fell kindly for Ryan Leonard, who coolly steered the ball home.
Three minutes later it was 3-2 to Millwall following a dreadful error from Krul, whose weak throw out was intercepted by Wallace. The diminutive midfielder played a swift one-two with Leonard before finding the back of the net.
But Norwich weren’t finished and Rhodes struck in injury-time. Poor marking allowed Emiliano Buenda to pick up out the striker in the area and he coolly beat Amos. Then Pukki had the final say, when an attempted last-ditch tackle from Shane Williams took a kind deflection off his shins to find the back of the net.
Farke, who felt the disallowed goal should have stood, said his side got what they deserved, adding: “So much went against us but my players kept going.”