Norwich City vs Sheffield Wednesday. Sky Bet Championship.
Carrow RoadAttendance26,236.
Saturday 29 October 2016 21:10, UK
Norwich City were held to a goalless draw against Sheffield Wednesday in their first home game of the Sky Bet Championship campaign on Saturday evening.
Norwich looked the likeliest of the two sides to open the scoring at Carrow Road as Wes Hoolahan, Cameron Jerome and Steven Naismith displayed some brilliant link-up play, but the visitors' centre-halves performed well to produce some tidy interceptions.
Neither goalkeeper was truly tested in the first half and it was the hosts who looked a threat going forward, causing Wednesday to defend well as they looked to break the deadlock before half-time.
Fernando Forestieri was the notable absentee from Carlos Carvalhal's squad, fuelling speculation that he could be leaving Hillsborough as he reportedly refused to travel to East Anglia with his team-mates.
Norwich, who were 4-1 winners at Blackburn in their opening match, may feel they should have been awarded a penalty after 17 minutes when Robbie Brady was brought down inside the box by Sam Hutchinson, but the referee thought otherwise.
Hoolahan looked dangerous on the ball, driving himself at the Wednesday defence, but some strong blocks from Hutchinson kept his side level.
There was a huge sigh of relief for Wednesday just before the half-hour mark when Robbie Brady went on a great run down the left before crossing the ball into the path of Jerome, but it was sent just over the bar by Hutchinson to prevent the Canaries from taking the lead.
It was Carvalhal's side who came out stronger after the interval as they looked to tip-toe forward and Michael McGovern, who came on in place of the injured John Ruddy, was called into action to save Barry Bannan's effort from close-range just after the hour mark.
At the other end, Josh Murphy got a shot off from 20 yards out in what was the Canaries' first effort at goal during the second half, 70 minutes in, but Westwood gathered well.
The Owls went close just a minute later when Tom Lees' close-range effort was cleared off the line by Jonny Howson.
In a last-gasp chance for the Canaries to grab all three points, Murphy got on the end of a Hoolahan pass but the angle was too tight for the midfielder and he was flagged offside.
Next up for the two sides, Norwich host Bristol City and Wednesday travel to Burton Albion on Tuesday night.
