Canaries are singing with immediate top tier return
A LATE fightback by Swansea at home to relegation-threatened Wycombe could not deny Norwich an instant return to the Premier League yesterday afternoon.
Jamal Lowe and Liam Cullen struck in the final 10 minutes at the Liberty Stadium to earn the Swans a 2-2 draw, but with play-off rivals Brentford also drawing it meant the Canaries were able to secure automatic promotion from the Sky Bet Championship without kicking a ball.
Admiral Muskwe and Garath Mccleary had put Wycombe two goals up to raise hopes Norwich would clinch a top-two finish ahead of their evening kick-off with Bournemouth and even though Steve Cooper’s side hit back, the draw leaves them third and 14 points off the leaders with four fixtures left in the regular season.
Victory for fourth-in-the-table Brentford at home to Millwall would have ensured the champagne stayed on ice at Carrow Road, but Lions goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski only had one save to make at Griffin Park in a stalemate between the London rivals.
The good news for Norwich continued at Kenilworth Road with title rivals Watford losing 1-0 at Luton.
James Collins scored a penalty in the 78th-minute to secure the Hatters bragging rights in the derby, but ahead of kick-off a smoke bomb was thrown inside the ground while the players observed a minute’s silence in memory of the Duke of Edinburgh.
Kiko Femenia was shown a red card late on to compound a poor day for Watford, who stay eight points off leaders Norwich.
Sheffield Wednesday were denied a vital three points at home to 10-man Bristol City in their battle to beat the drop after Tyreeq Bakinson levelled for the visitors in the 87th minute.
The Owls, who remain without manager Darren Moore as he recovers from coronavirus, went ahead with their first attack at Hillsborough through Julian Borner’s fourthminute header.
It could have been 2-0 when Henri Lansbury was sent off for giving away a penalty midway through the first half, but Barry Bannan was denied from the spot and Bakinson hit a sucker punch when he fired in an equaliser late on.
Wednesday remain 23rd and seven points from safety while Yorkshire neighbours Huddersfield boosted their chances of beating relegation with a 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest.
Huddersfield are eight clear of the bottom three and only two points off Preston, who earned a point away to Stoke. It finished goalless at the bet365 Stadium but the hosts finished the game with 10-men.