Norwich display their top flight quality to tame Black Cats

Paul Lambert’s Norwich City side showed onlookers that they have the flair and battling qualities to compete in the Barclays Premier League, writes William Geldart.

The Canaries dispatched of Sunderland 2-1 at Carrow Road last night, registering their second league victory of the campaign in the process.

Much has been made of Norwich’s meteoric rise from League One to the top flight in the just two seasons under Lambert’s stewardship. The wily Scottish manager was in jubilant mood yesterday evening as he witnessed his side continue to make the step up in class needed if they are to harbour hopes of avoiding relegation.

Meanwhile, Steve Bruce admitted his Sunderland team did not match their opponents’ quality and performance levels across the pitch, ultimately costing them any chance of salvaging something from the game once they had gone 2-0 down, only for Kieran Richardson to score a late consolation goal.

Bruce told SkySports after the game: “We huffed and puffed but if I’m being seriously honest, we didn’t pass it as well as we needed to.

“We never gave it up and we kept trying but the level of performance from a lot of the players was below par.”

The Sunderland manager was especially unhappy with the manner in which his team conceded twice. Elliott Bennett was allowed to play a one-two with David Fox on the right-hand side, as the away team lost the players they were supposed to be marking, giving defender Leon Barnett the opportunity to score his first ever Premier League goal after 31 minutes, sweeping home Bennett’s eventual cross.

Sunderland were again left reeling shortly after half-time as Steve Morison grabbed his first goal in the top division, having started his career in non-league football.

Russell Martin, playing as a makeshift centre-back, was given the freedom to run from the backline to lay off Marc Tierney, whose left-footed floated cross was attacked firmly by Morison, with little resistance from Wes Brown. The Welsh international striker must have thought his headed effort was an early Christmas present, judging by the Black Cats’ reluctance to put him under any kind of serious pressure.

Following some neat-interplay, Richardson then struck a fierce shot from the edge of the area that breezed past Barnett and nestled in the back of John Ruddy’s net four minutes from time. However, as BBC Sport pundit Steve Claridge said, “it was too little, too late.”

Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner had a few opportunities in the game that were foiled by Ruddy and he looked the liveliest of the Black Cats, with hapless striker partner Stephane Sessegnon wasting numerous chances before being replaced by Connor Wickham for the final third of the match.

It’s back to the drawing board for Bruce, but for Norwich, they climb into the top-half of the table after a win where their desire and quality shone through. The anxious wait to secure the victory had the home faithful on the edge of their seats as Sunderland pressed for an equaliser, but in the words of Norwich blogger Rich Waghorn: “City held their nerve and held onto the points which, at the end of the day, is all that ever matters in this brute of a division.”