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Saturday 30th September. I have only been to Norwich once, an Easter game about 4 years ago and this wasn’t going to double my tally of visits to the home of the Mustard Boyz. I contented myself with a spot of decorating and the commentary of Andrew Crawshaw from Home 107.9 who to their credit provide a much needed alternative to Radio Leeds, Leeds, Leeds featuring almost exclusively Leeds and Bradford games. The team was very much the same as the one that unsuccessfully took on Burnley last week, as Bruce must have felt that there were enough positive aspects of the previous performance to stick with the same 11. Norwich have also been having a pretty miserable start to the season and have only found the back of the net 5 times so far this season and are only a couple of points better off than we are. The early chances went to the home side with attacks from Brady and Derveld stopped prematurely by the linesman’s flag and when Kevin Gallen had an opportunity at the other end he mis-cued his shot at it passed harmlessly wide of the target. Nico Vaesen was forced to make the first real save of the game on 12 minutes although it was a fairly routine stop to collect Jim Whitley’s weak effort and it was evident why both teams are struggling at the wrong end of the division. Norwich were enjoying more possession than Town although the brightest aspect of the game was the home teams apparel and the few attacking chances they had rarely troubled Vaesen. Just before the half hour Dean Gorré fed the ball through to Kevin Gallen and he managed to get his shot on target this time but Norwich keeper Andy Marshall was able to smother with ease. Gorré and Gallen then combined well a couple of minutes later but the Dutchman’s shot hit a Norwich defender and rebounded to safety. On 38 minutes Kevin Gallen came closest for Town as he tried his luck from outside the area only to see the effort spectacularly tipped over the bar by Marshall. The game wended its dreary way to the half time whistle with little excitement at either end of the pitch. It is not only the Town fans who boo their own team off the field at half time, the Norwich faithful did the same as the expressed their frustration with a team who have failed to score at home this season. The second half began in a similar unspectacular manner until Town started to awake from their first half sluggishness when in the 53rd minute Kevin Gallen laid the ball off for Ben Thornley to strike but unfortunately the chance took a deflection taking the ball safely into the arms of Andy Marshall. Town did finally take the lead 5 minutes through our one and only new signing Kevin Gallen, who received a pass into the penalty area from Martin Smith and breaking through the Norwich City defence stroked the ball home off the right hand upright. It’s been 31 years since Town last took a maximum haul from Norwich and if the game remained as low key for the remaining half hour we might just repeat the feat. The goal seemed to galvanise the Canaries as they looked more intent on attacking but the overall pattern of the game was similar to the first half with Norwich enjoying more of the possession, but with the Town defence remaining in control for the most part. Bryan Hamilton brought on all of his three substitutes in the 10 minutes following the Town goal and Bruce introduced Simon Baldry into the fray at the expense of Dean Gorré. On 66 minutes a free kick caused Town problems but luckily Craig Armstrong managed to deflected Fernando Derveld’s shot to safety, then Chris Beech was forced into a hasty clearance as Giallanza threatened and a minute later Chris Llewellyn’s cross was headed just wide of the target by Kenton. On 76 minutes Kenny Irons wasted a glorious chance to bring 3 points home when he cut straight through the Norwich defence only to fire wide with only the goalkeeper to beat. Kevin Gray (hooray) replaced Ben Thornley with 12 minutes to go as Bruce looked to hold onto the lead but it was the home substations that were to have the desired effect for the Canaries. A free kick from Norwich was only partly cleared and fell to the free kick taker who played the ball back into the area where it was met by former Town striker Iwan Roberts. The toothless one played the ball back and it was met by second half substitute Gaetano Giallanza whose shot beat the diving Nico Vaesen through the legs of Craig Armstrong with the other defenders slow to react. Norwich had the better of the game after the equaliser but Town still had a great chance to steal the points deep into the three minutes of added time. Kevin Gallen raced into the penalty area but elected to shoot when a pass to his supporting colleagues who were queuing up in the area was the better option and Norwich keeper Andy Marshall was able to save with his legs. Once again Town have been unable to retain a lead in a game and considering that Norwich’s scoring record is even worse almost as pathetic as ours, I felt extremely disappointed with just a single point. Although our record in East Anglia is poor today was the ideal time to win there and for the 5th time this season we have taken the lead only to let it slip. At least this result lifts us off the bottom of the division, and above Sheffield Wednesday and Grimsby, but the teams above us are starting to pull away slightly and we have got to learn how to defend a lead before too many more games have passed us by.
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All words and thoughts by Chris except where stated.
A big thank you to Machala for putting up with me doing this and Ian for his support and my Mum for her proof reading.
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