Norwich 1-0 Birmingham: Canaries ease pressure on Daniel Farke

Norwich put two painful away defeats behind them as they recorded a hard-fought 1-0 win over Birmingham at Carrow Road.

Having shipped eight goals in losing at Aston Villa and Millwall before the international break, the Canaries needed a positive result and got it, courtesy of a fifth-minute tap-in from Nelson Oliveira.

The Portuguese striker's fourth goal of the season secured a deserved victory for Daniel Farke's side, while Harry Redknapp's Blues still have just one Sky Bet Championship win to their name.

It was all change at Carrow Road, with Norwich and Birmingham both bringing in an array of new signings. Both teams were looking to find a spark for their campaigns after poor starts and it was the hosts who received a timely tonic early on.

Birmingham failed to deal with the first corner of the game and the ball was nodded into the path of an unmarked Timm Klose on the edge of the six-yard box. The Swiss defender fired a low shot goalwards and Oliveira was ideally positioned at the back post to slide it home.

Oliveira should have made it 2-0 midway through the half after a swift break ended with Alex Tettey putting him in. But while he beat the onrushing David Stockdale, he also diverted his effort just wide.

It was a feisty encounter, with referee Simon Hooper brandishing four yellow cards in the space of 10 minutes and Harlee Dean perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch after a poor challenge on Mario Vrancic just before the break.

Birmingham had plenty of the ball but did precious little with it, with no sign of an effort on target in the opening period. New boy Jota fired a 20-yard free-kick just over for Blues in the second minute of the second half, while at the other end Oliveira was just off target with a curling effort after bursting into the area.

The visitors were posing a far greater threat in what had developed into an exciting, open game, but it was Norwich who almost scored next after 76 minutes when Josh Murphy guided the ball just wide. One goal was enough though, as the Canaries got back to winning ways.

The managers

Daniel Farke: "It was important to have a day like this when you have a really good performance. I though the win was fully deserved. We scored early on and then created a lot of chances. When you don't take them it can be a bit of a struggle towards the end, with the long balls going into the box, but we coped with it well.

"I was pleased with the win and also with the clean sheet. We defended really well and they didn't have many chances to score. In fact I can't remember a clear chance - there were a couple of free-kicks from outside the penalty area, but nothing else."

Harry Redknapp: "I am not a fool. I have been around long enough to know that I have got some very good players here. There's is no way this team will be struggling at the end of the season. There is enough ability here to be right up there - remember there are still 40 games to play.

"We managed to get a bit of work done on the training pitch but there was a bit of throwing them all in and seeing how it gelled. The one thing I do know is that I have got a better team now than I did two weeks ago. Today we dominated possession against a team who usually do that to the opposition but we lacked a cutting edge in and around the box. We just couldn't make things happen. They scored early and that was basically that."