West Bromwich Albion vs Norwich City. Sky Bet Championship.
The HawthornsAttendance24,638.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between West Brom and Norwich City at The Hawthorns as goals from Conor Townsend and Jed Wallace cancelled out Josh Sargent's opener and kept Carlos Corberan's men in contention for a place in the play-offs
Saturday 29 April 2023 20:29, UK
West Brom kept their Championship play-off hopes alive and ended those of Norwich as they came from behind to beat the Canaries 2-1 at The Hawthorns.
With Coventry and Millwall having manoeuvered themselves into pole position to secure the two remaining spots in the top six, only the winner of this game would remain in the hunt.
Josh Sargent's clinical finish - his second goal in four games - gave Norwich the lead after 41 minutes, but celebrations were quelled when Conor Townsend curled in a sparkling free-kick in first-half stoppage time.
After the break, Jed Wallace scored what proved to be the winner, when he diverted a cross from Townsend past Angus Gunn.
As a result of the victory, West Brom climb back up to eighth, two points outside the top six ahead of the final day of the season on Monday May 8. Norwich sit 12th, six points off the pace, unable to trouble the top six.
There was plenty of promise from both sides throughout the first half, with fluent attacks aplenty. Sargent twice fired wide from decent positions for Norwich, while Brandon Thomas-Asante was denied by Gunn after latching onto an inviting ball through the middle of the park.
Gabriel Sara was then denied a penalty by referee Bobby Madley, despite replays suggesting Semi Ajayi trod on his foot in the box, with Ajayi going close himself with a powerful header that Gunn tipped over the bar. It was only in the five minutes that preceded the break that the game truly came to life, though.
Norwich took the lead at the end of a spell of West Brom pressure, when Dimitris Giannoulis fed Sargent, whose clinical finish beat Alex Palmer at his near post, but the Baggies levelled right on the stroke of half-time, when Townsend curled a stunning free-kick into the top left corner from just outside the box.
It took a little while for the second half to get going and when it did, West Brom turned the game in their favour for the first time. Thomas-Asante dropped the ball off to Townsend, who swept in a cross that Wallace finished off at the far post.
Norwich boss David Wagner make a quadruple change with just over an hour gone, which facilitated the introduction of outgoing club legend Teemu Pukki, but, if anything, it only served to disrupt any momentum the visitors had generated, with their composure soon evaporating.
With no sign of an equaliser, Baggies boss Carlos Corberan took the opportunity to bring on Jake Livermore for what could be his final appearance for the club, following the news of his departure after six years that came earlier this week.
West Brom's Carlos Corberan:
"It was very important for us to win the three points. After the first game that I coached, we lost against Sheffield United and I remember we were at the bottom of the table, 14 points behind Norwich and 15 outside the play-offs. Now, after the last defeat against Sheffield United the other day, we played against Norwich with one point more and now, with a win, we create more distance.
"Now, we arrive at the last game with options. When you have possibilities, you have to fight until the end to achieve it."
Norwich's David Wagner:
"To be honest, I think we played a first half that was decent. We created good opportunities, scored a wonderful goal. I think we were very unlucky in the first half with the penalty incident we did not get and with the incident before the free-kick [that Townsend scored from] because, for me, it's totally clear it's a foul in our favour and not a free-kick for West Brom.
"In the second half, we lost our structure. We were not calm enough and we didn't look mature, even if we had the possession. We never really created anything and the goal we conceded was very sloppy. It was a frustrating afternoon because we lost the game.
"Now we know we're in the Championship next season, we will work hard, we will make some big decisions and then we will attack it again next season."
There is just one more round of fixtures left of the Championship season, with all fixtures kicking off at 3pm on Monday May 8. West Brom travel to South Wales to take on Swansea, while Norwich host Blackpool at Carrow Road.
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