The Lads went to East Angular with last weekend's result burning a hole in their memories, and went home with all three points after a game almost perfectly "managed".
Ba's clever low shot from the edge was the only goal, but we had several chances to add to it - even in the face of yet another substandard referee. The Canaries appeared to have two tactics: 1) if you've got the ball and are going nowhere, throw yourself to the floor, or 2) if you lose the ball in a tackle, throw yourself to the floor AND pretend to be hurt. Bless him, the ref fell for it almost every time, even managing to book Batth for a perfect tackle when tactic number 2 was employed.
It being a silly Sunday kickoff, a fair few of us arrived yesterday, had a wander round Norwich and, in our case, scoffed an eight man curry of the highest quality. I could still taste it this morning.
There was no sign of Pritch or Amad, as we lined up:
Patterson
Hume Batth (c) Ballard O'Nien
Michut Neil
Roberts Ba Clarke
Gelhardt
...and a bench of Bass, Anderson, Ekwah, Lihadji, Gooch, Taylor, and Bennette.
After a well observed minute's applause for their former chairman, we faced to the right as our fans looked, in our stripes, and Norwich kicked off. It took a few minutes to settle into our shape, during which Neil was caught in possession again on 3 minutes - you think we'd have learned by now not to give it to him in certain areas - but thankfully, he shrugged that off and began to dictate play. A minute later, he helped it forward and Gelhardt fired in a low shot from the left - but it was comfortable for keeper. We them stood off Pukki, allowing him to shoot -but he blazed it way over. A great pass from Roberts flew across the field to Clarke - another low one saved, with the keeper giving us brief hope as he took two goes to keep hold of the ball.
Their right back fell over chasing back but Clarke, a good two yards away, was penalised - the first of many appearances of tactic 1. Patto was called into action to pull off the sort of save he makes look easy while other keepers would make it look spectacular. As we'd seen on a few other occasions during the game, it's down to his positioning, which is superb. Just to knock the home side out of their brief spell of attacking, Paddy and Joff combined to find Ba in the D, where he swivelled to make the space for a left-footer. It wasn't hit particularly hard, but it left the keeper flat-footed as it nestled low in the corner of the net to his left. Brilliant, just brilliant - and only 15 minutes gone.
Barely a minute later it should have been two, as Joff took Neil's pass, spun his marker in the D, but thumped his shot into the goalie's chest. Bugger. Even at that early juncture, I think that would have been game over.
We were looking composed up the field, with Joff giving their central defence a rough time despite their greater height, and when Norwich did get forward Hume and Batth put in a couple of crucial tackles. Batth also had a chance at the other end when Norwich contrived to concede a corner with no Sunderland player anywhere near the ball. Clarke crossed, but the big defender headed wide.
Two extra minutes were played and we went in for our cuppas probably ruing the fact that it was only a one goal lead.
We remained unchanged for the second half, while Norwich brought on Zal Cleminson (ask yer dad) lookalike Josh Sargent, who'd scored at our place. He was straight into things, nearly nicking it off Patto as he cleared. Thankfully, our back line didn't let him in anywhere dangerous after that. We set Clarke away, but when he cut it into his right, a defender deflected it for a corner.
With Roberts running more directly at opponents than in the first period, their back looked a bit rattled on occasion, while we allowed the bulk of possession to the home side. They could have it all they wanted, but they weren't getting to test Patto.
On 66, Michut and Ba made way for Ekwah and Gooch, adding a bit more muscle to our centre. Dan Neil was growing increasingly frustrated with the ref's inability to differentiate between a dive and a foul, and several time told him so. A fantastic tackle by Batth brought him a yellow, then Neil himself got the card the ref had been itching to wave at him for a while.
Clarke was working hard tracking back, and almost set up a second when his shot basically bounced off the keeper, who managed to grab the bal just before Gelhardt could knock it in. That was just about Joff's final piece of action, as he made way for Lihadji for the last twelve minutes.
Batth, O9, and Ballard will probably wake up with Nike stamped in their thighs and backsides as they flung themselves in the way of shots. Patto must love playing behind them. Six added minutes were announced, in which an opponent took exception to Luke's off-field embrace after a Norwich pass overran for a goal kick - so Luke kissed him. Cue objections from most of the home side and a lecture on inclusivity in the workplace from the ref. It also ended badly for the kissee, as he tried to go for Luke in the centre circle as they went for a dropping ball - and got nutted. Served him right.
Whistle, win, celebrations on and off the field as the players rejoiced in getting Stoke our of their systems. Call it winning ugly if you like - it was an open game in which we were efficient enough to see it out and emerge the worthy winners the Norwich lads we met last night said we would be. Probably the only downsides were the five bookings and the fact it was only one. Still, happy days.
Man of the Match? I've mentioned Neil, and Clarke worked extremely hard, but I'll pick Luke from a solid defence. Not only efficient, but he plays with a big grin - and kisses opponents.
