Norwich City vs Brentford. Sky Bet Championship.
Carrow RoadAttendance26,725.
Saturday 23 December 2017 18:24, UK
Two goals in five first-half minutes from Lasse Vibe gave Brentford a deserved 2-1 win over Norwich at Carrow Road.
The Bees went in front in the 36th minute when Romaine Sawyers picked out Vibe, and a carbon copy goal just before half-time effectively settled the game.
Norwich, who have won just one home match since September, improved after the break and got one back in added time through Nelson Oliveira, but they were still jeered off at the end.
Ollie Watkins let fly from an angle on the left after just two minutes, but his curling shot thumped against the inside of the far post, with Vibe guiding the rebound wide.
The Bees continued to dominate and it took a good reflex save from Angus Gunn to keep the scores level as Watkins' header from just outside the six-yard box took a deflection off the back of home captain Ivo Pinto.
Norwich were struggling to get a foothold in the game although they twice went close in a frantic couple of minutes either side of the half hour mark.
First Timm Klose's scuffed shot caused mayhem in front of goalkeeper David Bentley, with Marley Watkins and Mario Vrancic both unable to get a decisive touch, then Vrancic's cross to the back post was met by a firm header from Klose that grazed the outside of the upright.
Those were rare moments of concern for Brentford, however, and they deservedly got their noses in front when the impressive Sawyers picked up a loose ball on the edge of the box and threaded a perfectly-weighted pass through for Vibe to coolly slide home.
It was a well worked goal helped by poor defending and more was to follow five minutes later as the visitors made it 2-0.
Again Sawyers was the architect as he took advantage of the time and space afforded to him to pick out the run of Vibe on the left hand side of the box - and again the Danish striker picked his spot in the corner to beat an exposed Gunn.
Norwich started the second period on the front foot, with Alex Pritchard firing a shot across goal and Nelson Oliveira testing Bentley with a glancing header before Vrancic was just over with a speculative effort from distance.
City should have reduced the arrears with 13 minutes when Klose put Vrancic in but the Bosnian could only clip the crossbar when perfectly placed.
Norwich finally got one back late on a minute into stoppage time when Oliveira emphatically swept home a cross from the right in emphatic fashion - but it was too little, too late.
