GW 32: Birmingham City 1-3 Norwich City
The Canaries Soar as Pukki Scores Two
Abbie Thomson
Date Published: 24th February 2021
Norwich City go 10 points clear of the top as Teemu Pukki missed a penalty and scored twice for the Canaries.
After missing a penalty, Pukki redeemed himself scoring his 17th goal of the season. Sending Norwich 10 points clear of Brentford and Watford, ahead of their clash against Wycombe on the weekend.
Image Source: The Pink Un
The Blue’s, who have the worst home record in the league, made a better start to the game and gave Norwich City, the club with the best away record, a run for their money.
After a strong start from Birmingham and a shot from Ivan Sunjic that just skied the bar, it took the Canaries 26 minutes to go ahead. Kenny Mclean slipped the ball to Pukki who made a great finish, hitting the back of the net.
Neil Ethridge’s efforts to stop Pukki from getting through, resulted in him bringing down Todd Cantwell in the 34th minute, which ensued in a penalty for the Canaries. The Norwich goalie shortly redeemed his error stopping Pukki’s weak penalty effort.
Just three minutes later, after some more great play from the Blue’s, Ivan Sanchez drew the scores level. Tim Krul saved the first attempt but could not keep the winger’s second chance from going into the back of the net.
​
Image Source: Sky Sports
The second half started strong for the home side as Jeremia Bela and Craig Gardener saw their shots saved and fly wide. Etheridge then had to think on his feet and denied Emi Buendia his header.
Birmingham’s luck ran out in the 76th minute with a gaol from Pukki. McLean ran the ball through to Onel Hernandez on the left, picking out Buendia, who’s shot hit off Harlee dean, directly into the feet of the Finnish striker, who tapped it in.
In what was the last few seconds of the game, Oliver Skipp, following a fast break from Lukas Rupp, hit the ball into the net, scoring his first ever senior goal, and wrapping up the game for the Canaries.
Post-match Daniel Farke told the media “It’s difficult when you have to deliver on all three days and this was our third win in six days at a difficult away ground”. Farke wasn’t particularly happy with his sides first half stating “we missed a penalty and scored a half own goal, but I wasn’t happy with the mindset. We were not willing to do the dirty stuff in defence and too much concentrated-on shining.”
A disappointed Aitor Karanka expressed to the media “The first half we were much better than them and they are not just another team in the league, for me, they are the best team in the league by far. The table is a reflection of how good they are and they are ten points clear." He then went on to say “we have the points that we have but it is true that it is an encouraging performance for the future”.
Man of the Match – Teemu Pukki – he played clinically, got the canaries 2 goals and broke the deadlock.