Norwich recorded a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Derby at Carrow Road to deal a huge blow to the Rams’ dreams of reaching the Championship play-offs – and keep their own slender hopes alive.
Mohamed Toure fired the Canaries into the lead just after the half-hour mark after missing an early penalty before Derby hit back when David Ozoh took advantage of a defensive mistake to equalise early in the second half.
But Norwich had the final say on 60 minutes, with Liam Gibbs curling the ball home to keep his side’s season just about alive.
The Canaries are six points adrift of the top six with two games to play, with their goal difference keeping them in it, while Derby are four behind Hull and Wrexham and, like Norwich, need two wins and big favours from other teams if they are to finish in the top six.
Norwich should have gone ahead after just eight minutes after winning a penalty when Amankwah Forson was brought down by Derry Murkin as he prepared to shoot.
In-form Toure, who had set up the chance with a clever pass, had to wait a couple of minutes for his big moment as Forson received treatment, and although he produced a decent spot-kick to the keeper’s left, it was brilliantly turned away by Jacob Zetterstrom.
Norwich shrugged off that setback and continued to dominate, with Forson firing inches over before Toure put his penalty woe behind him in the best possible fashion after 33 minutes.
Forson did well to find his fellow frontman in space on the right of the area and although the angle was tight the Australian had no problem firing emphatically into the roof of the net for his ninth in 11 appearances since joining Norwich in January.
Zetterstrom then did well to keep out a low free-kick from Kenny McLean that was heading into the bottom corner before Derby finally registered an effort at goal as Sammie Szmodics fired high and wide from a decent position.
Derby were gifted a route back into the game nine minutes into the second period when skipper McLean was caught in possession as he tried to play out from the back. The ball fell nicely for Ozoh and the midfielder fired home in emphatic fashion to level the scores.
But the Rams were not on level terms for long. With an hour on the clock Paris Maghoma had the vision to pick out Gibbs on the edge of the box, and the man playing out of position on the left flank curled the ball home superbly for his first goal of the season.
Vladan Kovacevic made an excellent double save to foil first Lars-Jorgen Salvesen and then Carlton Morris as the visitors sought a response and the big keeper then made another good stop to keep out a goal-bound header from Morris in the sixth minute of injury time as Norwich sealed the win.
The managers
Norwich’s Philippe Clement:
“This squad has come on in leaps and bounds from a tactical point of view but it has also come on mentally as well.
“They had a setback early on but they didn’t let it affect them. They kept going and in the end got the result I think we deserved. That is an attitude that needs to stay in their heads going forward.
“I think we should have scored a few more goals to make life easier for us, and Vlad (Kovacevic) had to make some really good saves, but overall I am very pleased.
“It can be a really exciting end to the season for us. But all I am going to say about the table at the moment is that this result means we are certain to finish in the top 12, which is an improvement on last season.”
Derby’s John Eustace:
“It’s not over till it’s over, this is the Championship. We’ve got another tough game (at QPR) on Saturday and we’ll go there fully committed looking for three points.
“I thought the attitude of the players tonight was fantastic. Everyone knows how stretched we are at the moment but we went head to head with a team with a very strong squad and I think we should have taken something from the game.
“I was pleased with the game plan in the first half but when we got the ball we didn’t use it well enough.
“It was a lot better in the second half and having got it back to 1-1 it was disappointing to concede what was, from a defensive point of view, a very sloppy goal.
“I’m disappointed we only scored once and at the other end Jacob (Zetterstrom), after making a fantastic save from the penalty, didn’t have too much else to do until the end.”
