FARKE HAILS ‘MASSIVE WIN’ McLean’s double joy for Canaries
NORWICH City twice came from behind to beat inform Bristol City at Carrow Road and go marching on at the top of the Championship.
The visitors led 2-1 at the break, but Daniel Farke’s side scored two in the second half to seal a deserved win, leaving the German manager delighted.
“Because of the story of the game this feels like a massive win for us,” said Farke. “We were playing against an inform side, who were full of confidence, and yet we have twice come back from behind to take all three points.
“I am really proud of my lads – it was tough in the first half but in the second they were outstanding. We had 16 shots at goal and I can’t remember them having one at all. In the end I think we got what we deserved.
“It is an important win because it was against a side who could be one of our rivals and now we have a put a bit more distance between them and Derby in seventh. Now it is looking very good for the playoffs at least.”
City boss Lee Johnson received a yellow card after the game for confronting referee Gavin Ward, with a fourth booking of the season meaning he is likely to be watching his side’s next game from the stands.
“I wasn’t happy with the referee’s performance and told him so,” said Johnson. “I didn’t use any bad language but kept chipping away and I think that is why I got a yellow card.
“In my mind you should manage the game on the actions on the pitch. Whether the foul is in the box, on the halfway like or on the moon it should be treated the same way.”
As for the game itself, Johnson adding: “I thought we were the better side in the first half and deserved to be ahead. But in the first 25 minutes of the second half Norwich blew us away with their quality.
“The most disappointing thing is we were unable to counter that – Norwich are flying at the moment, they have bundles of energy and a lot of good players, but we should have dealt with it better, especially after twice going ahead.” The visitors had most of the ball in the opening stages of what was a cracking game and it was no surprise when they took the lead after 12 minutes.
A neat move through the middle ended with Famara Diedhiou picking out Patterson, who blasted the ball past Tim Krul.
Norwich should have been back on level terms midway through the half when top scorer Teemu Pukki screwed the ball wide from close range after Onel Hernandez’s misscue had fallen into his path.
The equaliser arrived in the 36th minute after a superb raking ball from Emi Buendia to Hernadez had caught the visitors short on their right. The Cuban wideman got to the byline before cutting the ball back to Pukki, who layed it back for McLean to curl home his first goal for the club.
Straight from the kick-off the ball was moved to O’Dowda who danced past a couple of weak challenges before coolly slotting past Krul from just inside the box.
After the interval the hosts were soon in ascendancy again, however, and it took a good near-post save from Frank Fielding to deny Aarons before Norwich levelled.
There was an element of good fortune about the goal, with Hernadez’s deflected shot on the turn becoming a good pass for Aarons, who sidefooted across the area for defender Godfrey to sidefoot home.
The visitors were still in it, with Krul having to produce a good save to keep out Patterson’s low shot, but Fielding was the busier of the two keepers. He made a world-class stop to keep out a spectacular closerange volley from Hernandez.
But Norwich didn’t have to wait long for their third. Another spell of concerted pressure ended with the ball falling to McLean some 25 yards out and the Scottish midfielder made ground towards the edge of the area, looked up and fired home a spectacular low right footer into the bottom corner.