Ipswich 0-1 Norwich: Canaries claim East Anglian derby victory
- adamhigginsuk
- Aug 23, 2014
- 5 min read
Celebrations: Norwich, who won 4-1 and 5-1 when the sides met three years ago, emerged victorious in the Suffolk-Norfolk grudge match (Picture from Zimbio.com)
LEWIS Grabban scored the only goal as Norwich came out on top against Ipswich in the first East Anglian derby since April 2011.
The summer signing from Bournemouth headed home midway through the first half when played onside by Christophe Berra.
Grabban, who scored twice in their midweek win over Blackburn, could have extended the lead further with a host of second half chances.
Ipswich's best opportunity came early after the break when Daryl Murphy headed wide from a Luke Hyam centre.
The Canaries, who completed the league double in the 2010/11 campaign on their way to earning Premier League promotion, took the derby spoils for the fourth time in the last five meetings with their Old Farm rivals.
The narrow victory at Portman Road is Norwich's third straight win under Neil Adams since losing to Wolves on the opening day of the season as they temporarily moved top of the table ahead of the rest of the day's action.
Ipswich have now failed to score in three of their five games in all competitions this term and are now winless since their opening match against Fulham as Mick McCarthy's side seek to mount a successful play-off push after finishing ninth last term.
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Ipswich are still awaiting their first clean sheet of the campaign after five games.
McCarthy made one change from their 2-2 draw at Birmingham in midweek as last season’s top scorer David McGoldrick was restored in attack in place of on-loan Derby striker Conor Sammon but Elliott Hewitt, Stephen Hunt and Cameron Stewart were again sidelined.
Opposite number Adams, fresh from his first two victories at the helm against Watford and Blackburn, also made one alteration in personnel as Ryan Bennett came in for Javier Garrido with new signings Carlos Cuellar and Cameron Jerome on the bench.
But Norwich were dealt a huge blow in the first five minutes when Bennett twisted his ankle ligaments when caught by the trailing leg of Balint Bajner and was stretchered off after receiving lengthy treatment.
With Martin Olsson still suspended for pushing the referee at Molineux, he was replaced by Garrido, who is still fully recovering from a hamstring injury, which prompted an early defensive reshuffle with Steven Whittaker switching to right-back and Russell Martin moving into the centre.
The Canaries enjoyed plenty of possession in the opening exchanges but were hunted down by a hungry Ipswich side, who instilled their industrious approach to press tenaciously in midfield.
Luke Hyam robbed Bradley Johnson and immediately freed McGoldrick down the left. His teasing cross was nodded back by Jay Tabb into the path of Murphy but the former Celtic striker stabbed over when closed down quickly by Martin.
Ipswich made much of the early running without carving any clear-cut chances although Norwich carried a potent threat with the pace of Nathan Redmond and channel bursts from Grabban.
Grabban fired tamely at Tractor Boys keeper Dean Gerken but maintained his fine scoring run with his fourth goal in three games to give the visitors a 24th minute lead.
A Redmond corner was cleared at the near post only as far as Alexander Tettey, who nodded the ball back into the danger zone and Grabban reacted first to head home unchallenged from six yards out.
The shell-shocked hosts appealed in vain for offside but midweek two-goal hero Berra played the striker onside after failing to push out with his team-mates when he bumped into Michael Turner at the back post.
The delicately poised contest threatened to spiral out of control on numerous occasions during a competitive first half.
Experienced referee Keith Stroud did his utmost to keep a lid on proceedings with Kyle Lafferty and Cole Skuse going into the notebook for robust fouls.
Skuse teed up McGoldrick to fire inches wide of the post from a well-worked free-kick before Murphy curled into the gloves of John Ruddy as Ipswich built up a head of steam intermittently.
Norwich, with the greater cutting edge and more penetration, became the dangerous force from an attacking perspective.
Lafferty had two decent opportunities when presented with pockets of space in the box but the Northern Irishman could not make the most of them.
Despite lacking creativity and invention in the final third, Ipswich probed during seven injury-time minutes before the break as Paul Anderson lashed wildly over and Hyam almost played McGoldrick in on goal but the Canaries comfortably held onto their advantage.
Both sides had their chances in an open start to the second half as Murphy headed wide of the post from Hyam’s delivery to add to Ipswich’s frustrations while Grabban should have doubled his tally when chipping over the crossbar from Garrido’s precise through pass.
Ipswich kept up the pressure to increase the noise around the stadium as McGoldrick forced Ruddy into a near-post save when latching onto a header forward from captain Luke Chambers.
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Norwich won for the first time away from home in the calendar year of 2014.
But the Canaries had a series of opportunities to kill off their fierce Norfolk rivals with Grabban guilty of squandering two glorious openings.
The 25-year-old saw a right-footed volley parried by Gerken before rounding the Ipswich keeper in a one-on-one situation but was denied on the goalline by Tommy Smith’s clearance.
Johnson then fired waywardly off target from 20 yards as the Canaries, battling for an immediate return to the top-flight this season, established a measure of control.
In their search for fresh impetus, McCarthy made a triple substitution with 18 minutes remaining as Hyam, Anderson and Tabb made way for Kevin Bru, Conor Sammon and Alex Henshall.
It sparked a resurgence from the hosts, however the visitors looked more likely to snatch a second on the counter as Johnson's angled effort was beaten away by Gerken after being freed by Tettey.
Ipswich showed plenty of fighting spirit to push right to the final whistle in an exciting conclusion as Murphy came within inches of connecting with Berra’s headed flick-on.
But Norwich, who went close through Redmond in stoppage time, showed all of their recent Premier League experience to preserve their lead and take the bragging rights in Suffolk, much to the delight of their fist-pumping boss Adams.
Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire) - 9/10 Assistant referees: Ian Fissenden (Kent) and Gavin Muge (Bedfordshire) Fourth Official: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire)
Attendance: 25,245
MANAGER REACTION:
Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy
"The game wasn't going anywhere until we conceded a soft goal from a corner. That changed the course of the game. They were better after the goal and for 10 minutes, we were all over the place. We were better in the second-half and our best bit of football was when [Daryl] Murphy had that chance with the header. He said he should have scored. That's the fine margins in football though. If that had gone in, it changes the game again. Norwich are a good side, they have just come down from the Premier League and have got some very good players."
Norwich City manager Neil Adams
"It was good to restrict Ipswich to very few chances, if any. Overall I thought we deserved to win the game, we're delighted with the victory. I thought defensively throughout the game we were excellent. We could have gone and added another one or two goals in the second half, we missed some good chances. I thought we needed to be better in the first half, we didn't really move the ball as quickly or effectively as we're capable of. Give the lads credit, they stepped it up in the second half. You never tire of winning this game. You know and the players know what it means to the fans, simple as that. We had over 2,000 here today who were brilliant again. It’s a great feeling, it is only three points, but it is a massive game for the supporters."
Last updated: 23 August 2014
14:38pm
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