Norwich City vs Stoke City. Sky Bet Championship.
Carrow RoadAttendance24,992.
Timm Klose own goal sees Norwich beaten for first time in eight games
Saturday 6 October 2018 19:57, UK
Norwich's eight-match unbeaten run in all competitions came to an end at Carrow Road when Stoke recorded a fortunate 1-0 win in the Sky Bet Championship.
A game that the hosts dominated for long periods was decided by an own goal in the 35th minute, with defender Timm Klose diverting a low cross past his own goalkeeper on a greasy surface.
The win made it seven points from a possible nine for Stoke, who recorded their first away win of the season.
Norwich looked like a side bursting with confidence in the first half with slick passing, and were desperately unlucky to be behind at the break.
They got their first clear sight of goal after nine minutes when young Todd Cantwell cut the ball back to Marco Stiepermann in a good position but the German sent his effort just over.
Jack Butland then had to be alert to tip over a rising drive from Jamal Lewis before the left-back sent in a dangerous low cross that no-one could get on the end of.
Stoke were struggling to cope but gradually got a foothold in the game and finally made Norwich keeper Tim Krul work in the 23rd minute, with Tom Ince forcing him into a regulation save from just outside the box.
Another slick attack down the left led to the Potters taking the lead against the run of play 10 minutes before the break - although there was a huge slice of luck about the goal.
Cuco Martina put in an excellent cross after an overlap involving Ince but it was a Norwich foot that put it in, with Klose diverting the ball into his own net as he slid in to intercept.
Norwich continued to look the better side after the break, although clear-cut chances were in short supply.
The first real alarm for the visitors came just after the hour mark when Alex Tettey got his head on an Emi Buendia corner but could not get enough on it to trouble Butland.
Stiepermann then stung Butland's palms with a rasping 20-yard drive as the home momentum continued to build, with Stoke firmly on the back foot but defending well.
Teemu Pukki was next to try his luck, sending a long-range effort straight at Butland, while at the other end a rare break from the visitors ended with Ince curling a shot just wide.
Joe Allen also skied a decent chance just over but the bulk of the play was down the other end.
Substitute Mario Vrancic sent a free-kick from the right hand edge of the box just wide while there were optimistic appeals for a penalty as the same player went down in the area in the final minute.
A final flurry saw Moritz Leitner fire a snapshot narrowly wide from just outside the area but the visitors held on.
Daniel Farke: "If we had got just one point from this game it would still have been too little. I am totally proud of the way the lads dominated a side who have a lot of good, Premiership players in their side.
"It was just the way I like to see my teams play - attractive, technical football played at a good pace, with plenty of chances being created. We won more duels and more headers than Stoke, had more shots and created more chances. In the second half we had 75 percent of the possession. But we end up losing to a very unfortunate goal. I think it was just one of those days when things didn't go for us."
Gary Rowett: "I thought we showed another side of our game. We didn't come here expecting to be pushed so deep and have so little of the possession but Norwich showed what a good side they are and made it very difficult for us. We had to dig and we put in a concentrated, disciplined performance to come away with the points. We defended really well and restricted them to two shots on target in the entire game.
"People were writing us off after 10 games but there is still a long way to go, almost a Premiership season if you like, and we have plenty of time to close the gap on the leading sides. Our recent performances have been good and if we continue to play like we did today I will always be confident that we will pick up results."
