Sunday 25 September 2016 19:09, UK
Manager Alex Neil was pleased with the result rather than the performance as Norwich beat 10-man Burton 3-1 at Carrow Road to move to the top of the Sky Bet Championship for the first time this season.
A well-taken first-half effort from left-back Martin Olsson put the Canaries ahead at the break only for the Brewers to hit back seconds after the restart through Lucas Akins.
But the hosts restored their advantage from the kick-off through Jacob Murphy's deflected effort and could afford to miss a Robbie Brady penalty before Ivo Pinto struck two minutes from time to confirm the win.
Neil said: "We are obviously delighted to have taken the points but Burton played well and made us work very hard for the win, evenly though I thought we were the better side.
"I am satisfied with the result because that is the main thing in any game, to win it.
"As for the performance, well I thought there were a number of good individual displays but did we play well as a collective unit? I think we could probably have been better.
"The main thing is we are getting results, that is what it is all about.
"I think Burnley got about 12 1-0 wins last season to go up - you have just got to make sure you keep getting the results to get yourself over the line, although I think there have been a few good performances so far this season - Bristol City at home and Nottingham Forest away in our previous league game spring to mind.
"These sort of games are never easy. People see it's Norwich at home to Burton and think we just have to turn up and roll them over but football isn't like that.
"It was a good result and puts us in a nice position going up to Newcastle on Wednesday - we will be going up there looking for another win."
Burton manager Nigel Clough felt a number of decisions didn't go his side's way, including a second yellow for Tom Flanagan for the handball that led to the spot-kick which Robbie Brady had saved by Jon McLaughlin with Norwich leading 2-1.
Clough said: "If that's deliberate it was one hell of a save, maybe we need to start thinking of him as a goalkeeper.
"It was just one of those days when things didn't go our way, from the moment we lost Chris O'Grady in the warm-up (to a calf injury).
"But we were playing against a side who were in the Premier League five months ago, who could afford to change their whole side after winning at Everton in the cup in midweek.
"So to have pushed them so close, and created so many chances, is a good thing, I suppose.
"In the end we were punished for conceding two really poor goals. The second one should never have happened - we had just equalised and you have got to defend better than that from the kick-off.
"We also missed some really good chances when we made wrong decisions in and around the box and if you do that at this level you are not going to win many games."
