Norwich City 3 - 0 Coventry City

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Norwich City 3 - 0 Coventry City

Postby dutchman » Sat Sep 03, 2022 5:29 pm

Sky Blues soundly beaten

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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.

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Re: Norwich City 3 - 0 Coventry City

Postby dutchman » Sat Sep 03, 2022 5:31 pm

Norwich cruise past Sky Blues to go top

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Josh Sargent scored his fifth goal of the season as Norwich City brushed aside bottom-of-the-table Coventry City to go top of the Championship with a fifth consecutive league victory.

A bright start by the Canaries saw Teemu Pukki put them ahead with his first goal of the season, the Finland striker slotting the ball home after Marcelino Nunez won possession.

Pukki then teed up a second goal in first-half injury time, combining with Aaron Ramsay to give Sargent a simple finish from close range.

Winless Coventry, who remain at the foot of the table on one point after a fourth loss in a row, felt aggrieved that Kyle McFadzean had a goal disallowed when trailing 1-0.

But Norwich remained on top after the break and made sure of the points with nine minutes left when Todd Cantwell found Sargent, whose astute pass was turned low into the net by Kieran Dowell.

Pressure had mounted on boss Dean Smith after a winless three-game start to the season yielded only a solitary point, but then four consecutive victories set them up for a confident, energetic start at Carrow Road.

Ramsay shot narrowly wide and Cantwell had a shot well saved by keeper Ben Wilson before the predictable breakthrough.

Equally predictable was the scorer, with Pukki instantly controlling a pass and coolly finishing with his second touch to end a seven-game goalless streak.

Former Nottingham Forest striker Tyler Walker sent a powerful shot wide as the visitors responded and they thought they had levelled only for McFadzean's strike to be ruled out.

But in-form American Sargent doubled the lead, tapping the ball in after some typically incisive attacking play by the hosts.

A spirited Sky Blues start to the second half saw Viktor Gyokeres waste a glorious one-on-one chance and Fankaty Dabo send a shot narrowly wide before Norwich resumed control.

Smith's men had the better chances against a Coventry side who have only played five league matches because of their home pitch having been ruled unplayable at the start for the season, and sealed their 17th win in 25 Championship home games when Dowell beat Wilson with a composed finish.

Coventry boss Mark Robins:

"The gameplan that we set out was the right one, we just didn't execute it properly and I think we needed to be aggressive. We've played against one of the league's top teams but we've made them look even better than they are and we made ourselves look worse in the process.

"We were poor mentally and we gave a goal away and didn't respond. We weathered the storm after and huffed and puffed a little, got a goal, but they've disallowed that, and we didn't deserve anything from the game after that.

"Norwich are a good side and they move you around by running off the back of you and rotating into space that is difficult to deal with all the time, and had we been aggressive we could've built on that.

"The second half was better for 25 minutes of it and then the rest of it was in their hands as we looked like we'd ran out of steam a little. There were one or two feeling worse for wear for today's action."

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