Norwich City 3 - 0 Coventry City
Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2022 5:29 pm
Sky Blues soundly beaten
Coventry City suffered defeat away at Norwich City this afternoon.
Sky Blues boss Mark Robins made four changes from the starting lineup that lost 1-0 to Preston North End on Wednesday, with last year's two top goalscorers Viktor Gyokeres and Matthew Godden both dropping to the bench with Kasey Palmer and Tyler Walker coming in to replace them.
Martyn Waghorn and Josh Eccles were also replaced for the trip to Norwich, with Fankaty Dabo and Gustavo Hamer coming into the starting lineup as the Sky Blues looked to become a more resolute outfit having conceded seven goals in just three games on the road already.
City sat back in the early stages of the game, with the majority of the hosts' threat coming down the right hand side as Jake Bidwell tried his best to contain Joshua Sargent, Max Aarons and Aaron Ramsey. Coventry looked relatively secure until midfielder Gustavo Hamer was caught in possession by Marcelino Nunez near the half way line, leading to Teemu Pukki netting his first goal of the domestic campaign in the 14th minute to give his side a 1-0 lead.
Robins' men did not stray away from their game plan however, as they sat deep and bided their time until there was space on the counter attack. That space eventually arrived for Tyler Walker, who saw a shot fly past Tim Krul's far post just minutes after his team fell behind.
As the first half went on, Norwich continued to threaten with Ramsey having a growing influence on the game, threading neat passes to his teammates with a second goal seeming imminent for Dean Smith's side at this point. Coventry captain Kyle McFadzean thought he had scored a shock equaliser, only to see his effort ruled out due to Walker being deemed to have interfered with play in an offside position.
The hosts then went on to add a real sucker punch before half-time, as Josh Sargent tapped home their second of the afternoon to extend their lead in added time, following a well-worked move by Ramsey and Pukki down the left.
In the second half, star striker Gyokeres came on to ignite some fire into the City attack and almost did just that as he saw one of his first touches well saved by Krul. As the minutes ticked over, a degree of sloppiness crept into the Sky Blues' play as they lacked any real threat
Norwich seemed content enough to calmly play the ball around as time dwindled down, sitting pretty on their two-goal lead despite their fanbase growing more frustrated at the lack of ambition to kill the game. Robins brought on both Godden and Fabio Tavares in an effort to get back into the game, but no real impact was made by the two substitutes.
The defeat was then rounded off by Norwich substitute Kieran Dowell in the 81st minute, when he netted the third goal on a fairly dismal afternoon for Coventry.