Canaries fall to Stoke, snap unbeaten streak at 8
Photo credit: Kevin Johnston/Soc Takes
Norwich City‘s fine form continued Saturday at home against Stoke City, though a result ultimately eluded the Canaries for the first time in quite a while. A 35th-minute Timm Klose own goal proved their undoing in the 1-0 defeat. The loss snapped Norwich’s unbeaten streak at eight across all competitions, with six of those results coming in league play.
After a dismal start in which the Canaries appeared set to fend off relegation this season, they quickly righted the ship and now look closer to the part of promotion contender than bottom feeder. What the squad truly is this season remains to be seen however, considering the recent run of sublime form only brought the club’s goal differential to zero following Saturday’s narrow setback. That’s how bleakly the team’s 2018-19 campaign began.
Against Stoke, Norwich manager Daniel Farke rolled out his oft-used 4-2-3-1 with veteran ‘keeper Tim Krul in net. It marked the fifth-consecutive time Farke used the exact same 11 in Championship play. Stoke, meanwhile, came out in a 4-1-4-1 featuring two alterations to its most recent lineup. Peter Etebo and James McClean joined the 11 after not starting in Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Bolton.
Norwich bossed several statistical categories, completing a staggering 398 more passes than the visitors while owning 69 percent of the possession. But unable to solve a sneaky-good Potters back four of Bruno Martins Indi, Ashley Williams, Erik Pieters and Cuco Martina, the hosts never cancelled out Klose’s own goal with a strike of their own.
The Canaries honored a fallen supporter with a special tribute at Carrow Road in the 53rd minute. Longtime season ticket holder Dawn Brown passed away this week from cancer at age 53, and her daughter took to Twitter to ask the club and supporters if they’d partake in a full minute of applause in memory of her mother. The club obliged in a top-class gesture:
A fan has asked that City supporters take part in a minute’s applause in the 53rd minute in memory of her mum, Dawn Brown, a season-ticket holder who passed away earlier this week after battling cancer. Our thoughts are with Dawn’s family and friends. #ncfc https://t.co/K5WDw8cnv3
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) October 6, 2018
Next up for Norwich is an Oct. 20 away fixture against Nottingham Forest. The Tricky Trees currently sit in fifth in the table with 19 points, just one above the Canaries.
Though the unbeaten run came to a halt Saturday, Norwich produced another rather encouraging showing. The last few weeks have served as portents of positivity after a doom-and-gloom start.
Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KJboxing.
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