No regrets for Lambert after derby red card
Paul Lambert said he had no regrets about his part in an extremely badtempered East Anglian derby after being restrained by a police officer on the Carrow Road touchline before being sent to the stands.
Norwich regained the Championship summit thanks to two goals from Teemu Pukki after Onel Hernandez had given them a secondminute lead.
That pushed Lambert’s Ipswich closer to relegation, which on its own would have been enough for Norwich fans, who have yet to forgive their former manager for leaving for Aston Villa in 2012, to crack open a bottle or two in celebration.
But the extraordinary events just before half-time ensured that this “Old Farm” derby would be chiefly remembered for the Scot being sent off and escorted down the tunnel.
Jon Nolan’s reckless tackle on Norwich’s teenage right-back Max Aarons sparked the unsavoury scenes in which players from both sides confronted each other on the pitch, and coaching staff members did the same in front of the dugouts as referee Peter Bankes tried to restore order.
The official also sent off Norwich’s head of performance Chris Domogalla by mistake, it seems, as goalkeeping coach Ed Wootten had actually confronted Lambert, who had taken the club from League One to the Premier League in happier times.
“Do I regret it? No, I don’t,” Lambert said. “I ain’t going to stand there and watch players run 30 yards to get people booked and I am not going to let someone come into our technical area to provoke us, that’s for sure.
“The police guy – I’d forgotten about him – was great. I don’t have a problem with him. He was totally frank. He was just trying to disperse it. It was a steward who was trying to put his hands on me, and I objected to that.
“The referee sent off the wrong guy. It wasn’t that guy I was arguing with. I don’t have a problem with the red card. I don’t actually think the referee had a bad game, but he might have defused it in other ways. He has also to look at the other guy.”
Lambert also stoked up a little post-match row with Norwich head coach Daniel Farke, who suggested that certain Ipswich staff members had overstepped the mark.
“You can lose games but show some quality, show some style, show some class,” the German said. “This club, Ipswich, has a big history, and 95 per cent of the people involved there do this.”
“He should look at his own staff first,” countered Lambert before heading back to Suffolk and an inevitable touchline ban.
As for the football itself, it was Norwich who had the class, especially in the shape of Aarons, midfield playmaker Emi Buendia and Pukki, who had a header ruled out for offside in between his 19th and 20th Championship goals of the season.
Aarons did the hard running to set up Hernandez for the opening goal after just 82 seconds, although it was Mario Vrancic who claimed the assist.
Pukki had to wait 65 minutes for his first real chance but, having been set up by Buendia, took it superbly. His second was a poke past Bartosz Bialkowski in the Ipswich goal 10 minutes from time, with Buendia once more the instigator. Norwich City
Subs Ipswich Town Subs Referee