Norwich City vs Blackburn Rovers. Sky Bet Championship.
Carrow RoadAttendance26,848.
Daniel Farke's Canaries return to top-flight for first time since 2016
Sunday 28 April 2019 09:39, UK
Norwich sealed automatic promotion to the Premier League on Saturday evening, after a 2-1 victory over Blackburn at Carrow Road.
Marco Stiepermann set the tone with a 20-yard strike (13), with Mario Vrancic getting the promotion party in full swing with a stunning effort soon after (21).
Within two minutes, Rovers midfielder Lewis Travis had halved the deficit (23), but while Onel Hernandez spurned two chances to add a third for the hosts, the early goals were enough to seal promotion.
The Canaries are still in pole position to lift the Championship trophy on Sunday afternoon and need just a draw at Aston Villa on the final day to secure the title.
Carrow Road was packed to the rafters on Saturday evening, with an expectant crowd fully aware that just a point would be enough to ensure safe passage to the top flight for the first time since relegation in 2016.
But from early on it became apparent that wasn't going to be a necessary target. Daniel Farke's men started at pace and with less than 15 minutes on the clock, Stiepermann had struck the opener from 20 yards.
Rovers defender Darragh Lenihan then escaped with a booking as he chopped down Teemu Pukki as he bore down on goal, before Vrancic thundered in a typically-brilliant left-footed strike into the top corner from 25 yards.
Before the Canaries had the chance to run riot, Travis brought them down to Earth, forcing increased concentration as he coolly rolled a shot past Tim Krul.
After the restart Norwich attempted to kill the game off, as Hernandez cut in off the left and saw his drive hit the bar with Jason Leutwiler beaten all ends up, before Amari'i Bell superbly dispossessed him minutes later
The damage, however, was done in the first half and a huge roar emanated from the stands as the final whistle blew.
Daniel Farke: "It's a moment full of happiness, full of pride and it's fantastic, world class. All the words are definitely right because this feeling is amazing and we know that we made history today and have achieved something really extraordinary.
"For me, the Championship is, without doubt, the toughest league in the world; so many games and each and every game is very close. When you are one of the top two teams then you deserve it, especially under this financial pressure with so many young lads - the consistency and performance was outstanding.
"We had some spotlight moments, without any doubt. For example our performances at Leeds or the late wins at Carrow Road, or even the draw when we were behind for 80 minutes against Nottingham Forest.
"I think how much we grew during this season, we had so much financial pressure on this club, we had to sell some of our best players. We tried to be creative in our recruitment, also to bring many lads from our academy in. I just want to praise our key people, Delia (Smith), Michael (Wynn-Jones), Stuart Webber, so I think they are really responsible for which direction the club is going in."
Norwich end their stay in the Championship with trip to Villa Park to face promotion-chasing Aston Villa on Sunday, while Tony Mowbray's Rovers host Swansea at Ewood Park. Both fixtures get under way at 12.30pm.
