Canaries knocked off their perch by Parrott sickener
NORWICH were left feeling sick by a Parrott as Preston shrugged off a bug to claim a shock win.
But it was referee Dean Whitestone’s refusal to award a late equaliser that left Canaries boss Dean Smith with a bad taste in his mouth.
Whitestone blew for an off-the-ball foul on Jordan Storey by Norwich skipper Grant Hanley as Kenny Mclean smashed the ball home in stoppage time.
Smith said: “The officials said Grant was holding him.
“I can’t deny he was but their lad was holding Grant and caught him with a nice little left hook as well.
”He blows as Kenny is striking it but he has not blown for holding throughout the game so I don’t know why he is starting then.”
That meant that Troy Parrott’s first league goal for Preston ended up winning it – but it was just as painful for the on-loan Tottenham striker as it was for Norwich, who missed the chance to go top pf the Championship.
He collapsed in a heap seconds later with a hamstring injury.
“I don’t know how he did it, someone said it was in the celebration,” said Preston manager Ryan Lowe, who saw Emil Riis bag two after Josh Sargent fired Norwich in front after just two minutes.
Lowe was delighted with the result, especially because a sickness bug had hampered North End’s preparations.
He said: “Brad Potts got took off the bench because he was sick on the pitch, Ali Mccann spewed up at halftime, Ben Woodman’s stomach was in turmoil and Freddie Woodman had to have vitamins put in him.
”We had lads who played through it and I’m pleased because to go through what they have gone through was tough.”
Sargent rifled home his seventh goal of the season after Liam Gibbs had set him up.
Teemu Pukki fired wide with only Woodman to beat soon after and Riis made him pay within a minute as ex-canary Robbie Brady crossed for the Dane to power home a header.
Sam Byram was lucky to escape a red card for studding Alan Browne high on a leg but Riis fired Preston ahead six minutes into the second half.
Alvaro Fernandez took advantage of a mix-up between Gibbs and Max Aarons and the forward slotted home from 15 yards.
Substitute Gabriel Sara made it 2-2 14 minutes from time with his first Norwich goal from Pukki’s square ball.
But Parrott struck in the 80th minute with an instinctive effort that wrong-footed keeper Tim Krul with a big deflection off the luckless Gibbs.
Norwich piled forward and Mclean thought he had saved a point with a low shot in the corner only for Whitestone to rule his effort out.
NORWICH: Krul 7; Aarons 6, Omobamidele 6, Hanley 6, Byram 5 (Sara (46) 6); Gibbs 6 (Hernandez (81) 4); Nunez 5 (Dowell (72) 5), Mclean 5; Ramsey 5 (Sinani (58) 5); Sargent 7, Pukki 6
PRESTON: Woodman 7; Storey 6, Lindsay 6, Cunningham 6 (Hughes (79) 4); Browne 6, Whiteman 6, Mccann 6 (Johnson (82) 5), Brady 7 (Woodburn (67) 5), Fernandez 7; Riis 7, Maguire 5 (Parrott (46) 6) (Ledson (82) 5)
STAR MAN: Emil Riis. The Dane showed he knew where the net was on the day Preston started scoring.
REF: Dean Whitestone 6