Coventry City 0 - 2 Norwich City

[dutchman]

Poor first half, much improved after the break



Coventry City slipped to their 13th Championship defeat, losing 2-0 to league leaders Norwich City in a game of two contrasting halves at St Andrew’s.

Daniel Farke’s men dominated the first half, during which star striker Teemu Pukki gave them the lead and set up Emi Buendia for the second before the break.

But the Sky Blues came out fighting in the second half when they created a string of chances but just couldn’t find the clinical touch to beat Tim Krul in the opposition goal – a 45 minutes that should give them confidence going into the weekend.

City flooded the middle of the park with midfielders as they set out to contain the Canaries early on as the visitors enjoyed plenty of possession and knocked the ball about confidently.

And they had a huge let off in the 12th minute when Teemu Pukki and Todd Cantwell broke clear with the striker passing to his team-mate across the keeper but the forward tripped over and the ball was cleared.

Coventry’s first chance came in the 17th minute when Tyler Walker was brought down after running onto an incisive Callum O’Hare pass, the striker being fouled by centre-back Grant Hanley, who was shown the yellow card.

But the resulting free-kick some 30-yards out from goal saw Gus Hamer thump the ball into the Norwich wall.

Their first chance from open play came from a decent cross in from Julien Dacosta which Callum O’Hare got his head to under pressure in the six-yard box where he could only send it over the bar.

The home side had another let off when Pukki went down in the box under a challenge from Kyle McFadzean amid screams for a penalty from the Norwich camp.

But the visitors’ star striker punished his opponents just short of the half hour mark when a Coventry attack broke down and Norwich hit them on the counter attack, the striker played through on the right where he picked his spot across goalkeeper Ben Wilson to give his side the lead and take his season’s tally to 14.

And Pukki was instrumental again as Norwich extended their lead on the stroke of half-time when he pressed McFadzean who lost the ball, allowing the predatory front man to race clear and slip the ball to Emi Buendia to score in the box.

Robins responded at the break by sending on Leo Ostigard for Michael Rose and switching to two up top by adding Max Biamou in place of midfielder Jamie Allen.

And the Sky Blues certainly looked a lot livelier as they started the second half with a lot more purpose with Dacosta playing a lovely through ball to O’Hare who was denied by Tim Krul, before Gus Hamer struck a sweet shot from 25 yards out that flew inches wide of the left-hand post.

Chances were now coming thick and fast for the home side as Hamer drove forward and tested the keeper with a low shot before substitute Josh Pask, who replaced Dacosta, sent a header into the keeper’s arms.

But the visitors held firm, playing on the counter attack when a long ball over the top found full-back Max Aarons who was denied by a decent save by Wilson.

[dutchman]

Championship leaders Norwich beat Coventry



Championship leaders Norwich City eased to a comfortable victory at Coventry City to extend their lead at the top of the table to four points.

Teemu Pukki put the visitors in front with a composed finish from Emi Buendia's perfectly weighted through-ball and the Finn returned the favour for Buendia to make it 2-0 just before the break.

Callum O'Hare got in behind for the hosts after the break but Canaries goalkeeper Tim Krul raced off his line to deny him.

Victory saw Daniel Farke's men put daylight between themselves and second-placed Brentford, who suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at QPR.

Norwich had ended a three-match winless run with a thumping 4-1 win over Stoke on Saturday and they picked up where they left off with a brilliant first-half showing at St Andrews, where they probably should have scored more than twice.

It was a familiar duo who did the damage for the visitors after Pukki opened the scoring with a crisp finish across Ben Wilson in the home goal from a defence-splitting pass from Buendia.

The Argentine attacker, who has assisted five of Pukki's 14 goals this season, was then the beneficiary of some great work from the Finnish striker to put the game beyond the hosts with the last kick of the first half.

Pukki pinched the ball off Sky Blues defender Kyle McFadzean 40 yards from goal, drove forwards and then unselfishly squared for Buendia to tap in.

Norwich host struggling Rotherham on Saturday while Coventry, who are three points above the relegation zone, have a home game against out-of-sorts Brentford.

Sky Blues boss Mark Robins told BBC Coventry and Warwickshire:

"The second half was good, the first half was awful. In certain areas we looked like we were lacking confidence and we were making the wrong decisions and consequently we ended up in a really poor position. If you give the ball away to them then they can hurt you and that's what happened.

"If you're going to concede a goal, stay in the game, and in the second half you can have a really good go, but to concede the second goal gave the game away. We're giving too many rubbish goals away.

"The second half was much better and we have to get after teams whoever they are. Teams aren't having to work hard to score goals against us. We have to be more ruthless and clinical."