Nottingham Forest vs Norwich City. Sky Bet Championship.
The City Ground.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Nottingham Forest and Norwich City at the City Ground as goals from Teemu Pukki and Kieran Dowell restored the Canaries' 10-point lead at the top.
Wednesday 17 March 2021 22:24, UK
Norwich set a new club record of nine consecutive wins following a 2-0 triumph at Nottingham Forest.
The Canaries moved 10 points clear at the top of the Championship table following early first-half goals from the prolific Teemu Pukki and ex-Forest midfielder Kieran Dowell.
Victory saw Daniel Farke's side eclipse the efforts of the club's 2018-19 and 2009-10 teams, who both enjoyed eight-match winning streaks in all competitions.
Both of those squads finished their campaigns on top of the Championship and League One respectively and the class of 2020-21 will take some catching as they close in on a swift return to the Premier League.
Farke's men stamped their authority on proceedings at the City Ground from the start, with Dowell drilling a 20-yard effort just wide and Max Aarons calling home goalkeeper Jordan Smith into action from a similar distance.
And it came as no surprise when Pukki struck his 11th goal of Norwich's winning streak to give his side the lead after nine minutes.
He sidestepped a Tyler Blackett challenge 15 yards from goal after receiving Lukas Rupp's pass and fired a low shot into Smith's bottom-right corner for his 22nd goal of the campaign.
The visitors doubled their lead four minutes later when Dowell exchanged passes with Rupp before rifling a 20-yard attempt inside Smith's left-hand upright.
Pukki also had a chance cleared off the line by Lewis Grabban, while Forest's only first-half threat came from Luke Freeman corners, but neither Ryan Yates nor Tobias Figueiredo could find the target from free headers.
Undeterred, Norwich saw Pukki race on to a Todd Cantwell pass before finding the side netting and the pair then combined to send Kenny McLean through on the home goal, but an alert Smith did well to smother his shot.
Forest twice went close to reducing the deficit early in the second half.
First, nimble footwork by Freeman created space for a 15-yard shot that drifted inches wide, before Grabban was sent clear on goal by James Garner but delayed his shot long enough for Tim Krul to smother.
At the other end, Pukki ghosted past Figueiredo through the left channel and forced Smith into near-post action.
The Finnish forward also pulled a ball back from the byline that Cantwell scuffed tamely wide, while left-back Dimitris Giannoulis went closer with a low 20-yard drive.
Moments later, Scott McKenna's wayward header for the hosts failed to trouble Krul as toothless Forest finished the game having only netted twice in their last six home games.
Nottingham Forest's Chris Hughton: "It's not just us that are a long way off them. They have a way of playing that has been drilled into many of their players for the last three years. Their main players have also been fit all season and they have an outstanding centre forward who works as hard going back as he does going forward, but is always a threat.
"It was disappointing to concede the two early goals, but they are so good
with their movement and creating space in central areas of the pitch that it's difficult to know when and where to press them sometimes. We got closer to them in the second half, but they are a top, top team and they showed it. We have just got to make sure we take our second-half performance into our next game and not our first."
Norwich's Daniel Farke: "When the games come thick and fast, you can forget about what you are doing, but we need to also experience the joy because nine wins on the trot is outstanding. Maybe, in a few years' time, we can sit back with a glass of wine and look back on how we have written some history and done something really amazing. But now is not the time to be too proud of ourselves because we need to stay focussed.
"We still have some strong teams left to play and you never know what can happen with the coronavirus situation, but I thought we were fantastic in this game. We scored two quick goals against a well-organised Chris Hughton side who hadn't conceded two goals in any of their previous 11 games. We also created an unbelievable amount of chances, had 22 shots on goal, made more than 700 passes and kept a clean sheet. We did that by working unbelievably hard in the second half and not making any mistakes, so I'm delighted."
