Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Norwich City and Coventry City at Carrow Road on Saturday | Josh Sargent and Borja Sainz seal comeback victory for Canaries over 10-player Sky Blues after Liam Kitching red card.
Saturday 3 February 2024 18:27, UK
A late strike from Borja Sainz saw Norwich come from behind to beat Coventry 2-1 in an entertaining Championship clash at Carrow Road.
The Spanish winger produced a neat finish in the 84th minute to condemn the 10-man Sky Blues to their first defeat in 13 matches.
Mark Robins' side had gone ahead early in the second half through Callum O'Hare's well-taken goal, only to be pegged back 12 minutes later through Josh Sargent's close-range finish.
The game turned again with 19 minutes remaining when Liam Kitching was sent off for bringing down Sargent as he burst into the box, with Norwich going on to make their extra man tell to move level with their opponents in the play-off race.
Norwich had marginally the better of a competitive first half which featured plenty of neat passing football but with little end product.
Coventry goalkeeper Bradley Collins did well to push away an early shot from Christian Fassnacht that was heading for the bottom corner before Sargent steered the ball wide from a good position under pressure from a visiting defender.
The sides tended to cancel each other out as the half progressed, with both keepers largely untested.
But Coventry also posed a threat, with the lively Haji Wright bringing out a decent save from Angus Gunn at the near post after trying his luck from a tight angle.
The Sky Blues made their first opportunity of the second period count, however, with O'Hare's fine individual goal making it 1-0 in the 48th minute.
Norwich put themselves under pressure with a poor throw and Victor Torp slipped the ball through to O'Hare, who skipped past a couple of defenders before slipping the ball past Gunn.
The Norwich keeper then did well to foil a fast-breaking Wright as the Sky Blues sought to press home their advantage but the hosts hit back on the hour mark to level the scores.
Recently-introduced substitute Ashley Barnes saw his shot from a Gabriel Sara cross blocked but the ball fell nicely for Sargent to volley home his sixth goal of an injury-hit campaign.
Norwich were now on the front foot and received a further boost on 71 minutes when Kitching was shown a straight red card for bringing down Sargent on the edge of the box when he was the final defender.
Sara clipped the crossbar from the ensuing free-kick.
Coventry substitute Kasey Palmer was then denied by an excellent reaction save from Gunn but Norwich kept pressing and got their noses in front for the first time on 84 minutes.
The goal came after a break down the left, with Sainz exchanging passes with Barnes on the edge of the box before curling a delightful shot past Collins and into the far corner of the net.
Norwich's David Wagner:
"I thought it was a fantastic afternoon, both with the result and the performance which I also thought was top class, especially in the first half.
"We didn't get the goal we deserved and then went behind early in the second half with a goal that was avoidable from our point of view.
"But the players reacted well and to come back from 1-0 down to win 2-1 against a top side like Coventry is a fantastic achievement.
"It was good the players from the bench made an impact and that's how it should be. We have a competitive group so when we lose our top scorer (Jon Rowe who missed the game with a hand injury) we can cope.
"It's another good step in the right direction and we now look forward to the next challenge at QPR next Saturday."
Coventry's Mark Robins:
"I can't help feeling hard done by after that - we played some decent football out there and to come away with nothing was bitterly disappointing.
"There's no doubt the red card changed the game - at that point I felt we had a good chance to go and win it.
"We were still in it with 10 men but Norwich have a lot of quality and they punished us in the end.
"In the end I think it comes down to taking chances - we scored a good goal and then Haji Wright has had an excellent chance to make it 2-0 and I think it would have been game over then, red card or not.
"The keeper has made a save but he shouldn't have had that chance. Kasey (Palmer) has also had a great chance at 1-1 but the keeper has saved again.
"It is a disappointing result and we also lose Liam Kitching for a couple of games now as it was his second sending off while Ben Sheaf is out for six-to-eight weeks.
"But we just have to take this on the chin - the games are coming thick and fast now and there are plenty of other good players in the building."
