Norwich City 3-3 Middlesbrough: Norwich fight back to earn point in six-goal thriller

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Norwich City and Middlesbrough at Carrow Road on Sunday; Canaries launch a storming comeback to secure stunning draw with Boro.

Monday 28 October 2024 09:10, UK

Norwich launched a storming comeback to secure a 3-3 draw with Middlesbrough in a thrilling Championship clash at Carrow Road.

The Canaries looked down and out when the visitors took a two-goal lead into the interval after going behind early on.

But after seeing Tommy Conway being denied what would have been a hat-trick from the penalty spot midway through the second period, the hosts found another lease of life, with Borja Sainz scoring his second to pull one back almost immediately.

The Canaries then earned themselves a point after 79 minutes when Kellen Fisher's cross was turned into his own net by Seny Dieng at the near post to restore parity.

Norwich made a bright start and grabbed an eighth-minute lead as Sainz netted his 10th goal of a highly productive campaign.

The Spanish flyer started a move down the left flank and finished it with a brilliant strike into the top corner from well outside the box to give his side a dream start.

But then it all went wrong for the hosts as Boro turned the match on its head to take a 3-1 lead into the break.

They were level within three minutes as Conway beat George Long at his near post following an excellent left-wing cross from Rav van den Berg.

There were then chances at both ends before Michael Carrick's side scored twice late in the half to take what looked like a firm grip on proceedings.

Conway scored his second after 40 minutes following a break from a Norwich corner which saw Ben Doak race free on the left before finding Anfernee Dijksteel who unselfishly set up his unmarked colleague.

Then, in stoppage time, Long's save from a Hayden Hackney piledriver fell nicely for Doak to cross back in for Finn Azaz to apply the finishing touch from close range.

After a slow start to the second period Boro wasted a glorious chance to put the game to bed after 68 minutes when they were awarded a penalty following Jose Cordoba's clumsy foul on Riley McGree.

Conway wasted a chance to complete his hat-trick however as Long guessed the right way to save his spot-kick - and a couple of minutes later Norwich were back in it.

Once again the hero was Sainz who picked up a loose ball on edge of the area and curled it over Dieng and into the back of the net.

It was all Norwich now and they were back on level terms after 80 minutes when a mistake from Dieng gifted them a third.

Fisher's inswinging cross from the right caught out the keeper out and after getting his hands to the ball to claw it out he then inadvertently flicked it back into into the net with his outstretched leg.

Norwich were reduced to 10 men in the 86th minute when skipper Kenny McLean was shown a straight red card for a high tackle on Hackney - but they held on for a hard-earned point.

The managers

Norwich's Johannes Hoff Thorup:

"In the past two games I have been so impressed with the fight the lads have shown," said Thorup, whose side also recovered from a two-goal deficit to draw at Preston in midweek.

"In each case it was, 'How can we get a result here?' rather than the players blaming each other for what went wrong in the first half.

"You can talk about tactics all you like but they mean nothing if your players don't show heart, passion and team spirit when things are going wrong. That sort of attitude can only be good for us going forward.

"But today I thought we struggled a bit defensively and were opened up too easily. For a period of 20 minutes or so in the first half we switched off in too many situations and were too passive. We need to be more solid at the back and that's down to me to prepare the players better."

Middlesbrough's Michael Carrick:

"I feel really proud of the lads, even though we are obviously all disappointed with the way it ended.

"I think Norwich are now unbeaten here for a year (24 games) so we were playing against a really good team and caused them a lot of problems.

"We missed a penalty and they put two in from 25 yards - that sort of thing can happen in football sometimes but overall I was delighted with the way we played. There's so much the lads can take from this.

"We have just played two top sides in the space of a few days (they beat Sheffield United 1-0 in midweek) and are really disappointed not to have come away with six points.

"As a team we looked well balanced, played really good football at times and were rewarded with three goals, but you can't really legislate for the kind of goals Norwich scored.

"To come to a tough place like this and be really disappointed to only take a point shows how far we have come."