Norwich City vs Derby County. Sky Bet Championship.
Carrow RoadAttendance26,048.
Saturday 28 October 2017 18:58, UK
Sam Winnall came off the bench to earn Derby a hard-earned 2-1 win at Carrow Road - and end Norwich's impressive unbeaten league run.
The former Barnsley striker had been on the pitch for just six minutes when he pounced on a rebound to settle an entertaining Sky Bet Championship game in the 83rd minute.
The Rams had gone ahead on the stroke of half-time through David Nugent, only for defender Timm Klose to level in the 71st minute.
Norwich - undefeated in seven league games - started brightly and would have taken the lead after just three minutes had defender Christoph Zimmermann made a better connection when the ball dropped nicely at his feet from a corner.
Fellow German Marco Stiepermann went even closer on 17 minutes, hitting the underside of the crossbar after he latched onto a fortunate deflection. The crowd were claiming a goal but after making using of his technology referee Peter Bankes waved played on.
The official was again the centre of attention late in the half when Derby goalkeeper Scott Carson appeared to bring winger Josh Murphy down following an unsuccessful attempt to usher the ball out of play.
Bankes again decided there was no need to stop play - to the anger of Norwich players and fans - and his decision was brought into sharp focus at the end of the first half when the Rams got their noses in front.
A ball from deep from Richard Keogh was missed by Zimmermann, leaving Nugent with a run on goal. The 32-year-old produced an excellent finish, curling the ball past Angus Gunn.
Tom Huddlestone almost stretched the visitors' advantage in spectacular fashion seven minutes into the second period, with a brilliant reflex save from Gunn required to keep out his acrobatic volley from all of 30 yards.
But the Canaries were also posing a threat in an exciting, end-to-end game and Carson needed to get his body in the way when Stiepermann got on the end of a deep Murphy cross, with the defender optimistically claiming his effort had gone in.
The hosts who were building up a head of steam and they deservedly got back on level terms when Stiepermann crossed to the back post, where Klose outjumped his marker to head home.
Although Bradley Johnson had a close-range effort rightly ruled out for offside and Keogh had a snapshot blocked, the hosts also posed a threat, with Tom Trybull missing his kick with a clear sight on goal.
But the Rams won the contest late on. Gunn made another fine stop to keep out a Johnson short after, neat passing had cut Norwich open - but Winnall was on hand to bundle the loose ball home.
Cameron Jerome fired just over for Norwich in added on time - but Derby held on.
Daniel Farke: "For me we could have received two penalties. First the keeper pulls Josh [Murphy back - a more experienced player would maybe have gone down but Josh stayed on his feet because he wanted to score. Then he was brought down by a tackle from behind, although maybe the keeper got some of the ball. It should have been a penalty and probably a red card too because there was no one behind protecting the goal.
"It was a strange decision - and we got a couple of those against Arsenal (in the Carabao Cup) on Tuesday as well, so it is very disappointing. Today we could have been 1-0 up against 10 men - but instead it's 0-0 and 11 versus 11 and then they score in the 46th minute to go ahead. It is just something we have to accept - and hopefully over the course of the season things will even themselves out and we will get some lucky decisions."
Gary Rowett: "That's three wins on the trot now and I was delighted with the performance. We played some good football, created plenty of chances and, perhaps most importantly of all, showed a lot of character to come away with all three points. The word 'character' hasn't always been used with Derby teams in the past but that was certainly the case this afternoon.
"It was an excellent win - although I still think there is more to come from us. We always respect the opposition but you look at the players we have and we should be capable of playing anyone in this league and getting a result."
