The Mail on Sunday

No masking it, tier one beckons for Canaries

- By Lewis Steele

THANKS to being in Covid tier two, Norwich welcomed 2,000 fans back to Carrow Road for this clash against Sheffield Wednesday. And after grinding out an undeserved three points, the Canaries look a safe bet to head back to tier one — of English football — at the first time of asking.

Two goals in the last 10 minutes from Josh Martin and Max Aarons earned the win for Daniel Farke’s men to send them back to the top of the Championsh­ip, at the expense of a valiant Wednesday side who led through Josh Windass.

‘I feel great—top of the league,’ said Farke. ‘ It was our responsibi­lity to cheer everybody up and they deserved to celebrate because they played their part through the game. This is a win not just for the 2,000 but for all of our supporters.’

Majority shareholde­r and TV cook Delia Smith was on the pitch before the match, warming up a loud and expectant crowd. There were no calls of ‘Where are you?’ or ‘Let’s be having you!’ as she once directed at the stands. But she might have wanted to ask the 11 in yellow on the pitch where they were. Farke’s players simply did not turn up for the first 80 minutes. They were restricted by a Wednesday team who were searching for a first win under Tony Pulis.

In his fifth match in charge, Pulis’ blueprint started to show. The Owls were well- drilled at the back, dangerous on the counter-attack and a threat on set-pieces.

Wednesday had the best chances of the first half and just after the hour mark, Wednesday went ahead. Windass had a free header in the box after a perfect cross from Adam Reach.

The Owls then had two penalty shouts turned down by referee Jarred Gill et t , aft er Kadeem Harris went down t wice, but neither incident was obvious.

Norwich created little and it seemed that the 2,000 Canaries were going to be trumped by a mere t wo Wednesday f ans in attendance. And they were toasting a great performanc­e until the last 10 minutes, when all of Wednesday’s efforts were undone. First, 19-year-old Martin latched on the end of a threaded through ball from Mario Vrancic and poked past Joe Wildsmith.

‘ He looks a bit like Cristiano Ronaldo with his step-overs,’ joked Farke on Martin, who scored with his first touch after coming off the bench, his first in senior football.

Then, three minutes later, Vrancic played in Max Aarons who evaded a couple of challenges and fired in for 2-1.

‘My team has got used to losing and not grinding it out,’ said a dejected Pulis. ‘But they’ve played really well and given everything.’

Wins when not in top form are the mark of a great team and it is worth adding Norwich have a plethora of players out injured. Farke was the last man on the pitch and joined in as Norwich fans serenaded him with a chorus of ‘Farkelife’ — to the tune of Blur’s Parklife — and ‘We are top of the league’.

Norwich fans are loving life in tier two.

 ??  ?? TALENTED: Josh Martin impressed with his Ronaldo-style skills, then topped it all with the equaliser, which was the teenager’s first senior goal for Norwich
TALENTED: Josh Martin impressed with his Ronaldo-style skills, then topped it all with the equaliser, which was the teenager’s first senior goal for Norwich

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