Match Review 2011 - 2012

The 3000+ strong traveling away fans arrived at the Hawthorns on a beautiful sunny but bitterly cold afternoon in confident mood on the back of two good wins against newly promoted QPR and inform Championship side Burnley in the Cup. Manager Lambert, as has been his way throughout the season, shuffled his pack again bringing Bradley Johnson, Kyle Naughton, Anthony Pilkington, Steve Morrison and John Ruddy back into the starting line up at the expense of Fox, Drury, Crofts, Holt and Declan Rudd, who after a training ground injury, is set to be on the sidelines for up to two months. 

West Brom, who in contrast to City have found goals hard to come by this season with only a meagre 7 goals in 10 home fixtures, recalled midfielders Thomas, Mulumbu and Scharner to the team following injuries and retained FA Cup hat-trick hero Simon Cox in attack alongside Peter Odemwingie. The returning Shane Long, so often the scourge of Norwich in his Reading days, had to be content with a place on the bench. 

Odemwingie, the match winner for the Baggies in their 1-0 triumph at Carrow Road back in September, had the first attempt of the game after 5 minutes when having chested the ball down midway through the City half advanced before letting fly with a dipping strike that Ruddy just about managed to get enough on to push on to the bar. Judging by the expression on the Canary stoppers face he was mighty relieved to see it go out for a corner. 

Norwich did not have to wait long to hit the woodwork themselves when in their first real attack Foster’s scrambled clearance ricocheted off Morison and clipped the outside of the post. 

Despite Jackson flashing an effort high over the bar following a dangerous Hoolihan cross, clear cut chances for City were at a premium as West Brom began to dominate with the pace and movement of Odemwingie, Cox and wide men Morrison and Thomas causing City real problems. Odemwingie tried his luck again firing wide from the edge of the box before Simon Cox was put through on goal by a clever pass from Scottish international Morrison however Ruddy was equal to it making himself big to pull off a great block. 

As the half wore on it seemed inevitable that West Brom would make their dominance count against a City defence still looking for their first clean sheet of the season. Chances continued to come for the men in the blue and white stripes, the best of which saw Morrison return a cleared corner with interest only to see Surman head off the line at the near post. 

As the pressure continued Whitbread made a fantastic block to deny the dangerous Thomas as he looked destined to threaten Ruddy's goal once again. 

Just as the Yellow Army behind the goal at the Smethwick End were longing for the half time whistle Norwich crafted a fantastic goal on the counter attack. Jackson collected a long chipped pass in the channel from Pilkington before waiting for support and laying it off to the advancing Hoolihan, The Irish wizard more renowned for his left foot picked out a beautiful cross with his right for Surman who instinctively fired a delightful volley past Foster. 

Overall not even the most ardent of Norwich fans could argue that they were very fortunate to go in one up but a combination of good goalkeeping, committed defending and a fantastically well crafted goal saw the Norfolk men head to the interval one nil to the good.

West Brom were sent out early by Roy Hodgson at the start of the second half and as the action recommenced they once again looked to get on the front foot. The lively Thomas continued to trouble Russell Martin down Norwich's right and Scharner blazed an attempt high over the bar before James Morrison went closer with a dipping effort that clipped the roof of the net. 

On 63 minutes Hodgson the ex Liverpool Manager decided it was time to bring on his leading scorer Long in conjunction with Scotland international Graham Dorrans in place of Odemwingie and Scharner respectively. The changes almost paid immediate dividends as Long twisted and turned before drawing another smart save from Ruddy with his outstretched leg. 

The Albion fans in the crowd of 22,474 did not have to wait much longer for their equaliser however as Thomas dashed into the box towards goal only to be holted by a reckless challenge by Ayala who had initially looked favourite to get the ball. In a week where a lot of the talk has been about tackling the young Spaniard may have been a little fortunate not to see red as despite his tackle not being malicious he got it badly wrong and ended up clearly going over the top of the ball. Irish international Long duly converted the penalty in some style to claim his customary goal against the Canaries having only been on the pitch for 5 minutes. 

Paul Lambert, who so often makes game changing substitutions reacted immediately by throwing on talismanic striker Grant Holt in place of Jackson and removed the subdued Pilkington with the more workman like Andrew Crofts. The Baggies boss responded shortly afterwards by replacing the impressive Jerome Thomas, who had been limping for some time with the more physically imposing Marc Antoine Fortune. Without Thomas, Albion seemed to be a little less dangerous as both teams wrestled to get the momentum following the equaliser. 

On 79 minutes Norwich delivered the telling blow with another breathtaking counter attack. Mulumbu was lining up a shot from outside the City box when his poor touch allowed Naughton to pick his pocket, he exchanged a one two with Holt before releasing the gallivanting Norwich Number Nine down the left wing. As the ex tyre fitter advanced to the edge of the area he got his head up and where many others would have simply gone for goal from a tight angle he spotted Morison prowling on the 6 yard box and delivered a delightful chipped cross on to his head. The big Welshman managed to get great power on his header and it nestled in the back of the net despite Foster in the WBA goal getting a hand to it.

Following Morison’s goal Norwich seemed determined not to relinquish the lead for a second time and despite a certain amount of Albion pressure and 4 minutes of injury time the Canaries duly saw out the danger for a fantastic 3 points. 

Overall this was a tremendously resilient effort from Norwich who despite withstanding large amounts of possession managed to conjure up 2 sensational goals on the counter attack to win the game. The character and fighting spirit Paul Lambert has instilled in his team is nothing short of remarkable and to achieve back to back away victories in the Premier League at the start of 2012 is a huge achievement. 

- Lambert's substitutions once again were spot on and both Holt with his assist for the goal and Crofts with his work-rate and energy helped secure the win.

- John Ruddy came up with big saves when required to help his team.

- Kyle Naughton, despite being all right footed, showed he is more than capable of playing at left back when required which gives us three great options in that position.

- Zak Whitbread put in another committed defensive display.

- Wes Hoolihan showed us he has a right foot with a delightful cross for the first goal and as ever was at the heart of City’s best attacking moments.

- Grant Holt once again showed he can influence games whether he starts or comes on from the bench. 

- Steve Morrison continues to score, 9 for the season is a fantastic effort so far.

- Surman's finish, whilst not quite in the Jerry Goss league of great volleys, was sublime and he seems to be enjoying his run in the side.

- Ayala was lucky to get away with only a yellow given all the talk of over the top tackles this week. Whilst 95% of what he does looks assured and cultured it does worry me that he may be prone to the odd reckless tackle and he seems to pick up yellow cards for fun. He is young though and will be learning with every game. 

- Russell Martin had a tough afternoon up against Jerome Thomas however Pilkington did not give him much help defensively and it can't have been easy reverting back to right back in the last few games having played most of the season at centre back.

- Thought the diamond formation today left us overrun in midfield at times especially in the first half and Mulumbu and Scharner seemed to hoover up the majority of the loose balls in the centre of the park.

- Pilkington does not seem to be at his best when playing on the right hand side of the diamond. 

John Ruddy

 Hard decision today as was more of a resilient team performance however the big man in the sticks made good saves at crucial times to keep Norwich in the game during the 1st half and he commanded his area well taking several crosses to relieve the pressure. 

Jerome Thomas

Despite being on the losing side I thought both Morrison and Thomas caused Norwich real problems. Morrison is great technically and on another day could have had more than one goal to his name however Thomas just edged it. He gave Russell Martin a torrid afternoon, won the penalty and was unlucky not to score himself. Once he was replaced WBA did not look as dangerous.