Coventry fought back to win 2-1 at Norwich, but they were unable to regain their six-point lead at the top of the Championship.
Romain Esse’s goal put the Sky Blues ahead just before the break at Carrow Road, but the Canaries came back in the second half with goals from Anis Ben Suliman and Ali Ahmed.
The win continues Philippe Clement’s Norwich comeback and lifts Norwich into 18th place in the table. There is a difference of 4 points from the bottom three.
Coventry remain three points behind second-placed Middlesbrough and eight points behind third-placed Ipswich, but still have games in hand.
Norwich’s excitement continues as they fight back to win
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Norwich took a 2-1 lead over Coventry as Jovon Makama capitalized on a mistake by Liam Kitching and led to Ali Ahmed’s goal.
Norwich were dominant in the first half, with both Ben Slimane and Kellen Fisher failing to capitalize on any decent openings, but the home side came desperately close to taking the lead after 27 minutes.
The corner from the right was only half cleared, but defender Jose Cordoba took it in nicely. A sweetly hit low drive hit the post and the ball was hacked safely.
Despite having a lot of possession, the Sky Blues had not been able to get a shot on goal until then, but they had their first clear chance in the 38th minute.
Ruairi McConville did a good job of blocking Victor Torp’s snap shot, but Esse picked up the loose ball close by before entering the goal, giving the visitors the lead.
Coventry City’s Romain Esse celebrates scoring against Norwich
Three minutes later, Coventry almost leveled the score at 2-0, but Vladan Kovacevic had to do everything in his power to convert Haji Wright’s rising drive.
Norwich made a shocking start to the second half, leveling the score within 35 seconds of the restart.
Recent signing Ali Ahmed slipped in to Ben Slimane on the left and the midfielder slipped the ball home past Karl Rushworth, but Jay Dasilva’s attempt to clear on the goal line failed.
Ben Slimane celebrates with Papa Diallo after scoring against Coventry to make it 1-1
Efron Mason-Clarke’s header hit the crossbar as the reeling Sky Blues tried to fight back, but it was Norwich who scored again to turn the game on its head.
Liam Kitching set up a chance by carelessly winning the ball in his own half, and substitute Papa Diallo ran free at half-time and crossed the ball for the unmarked Ahmed, who gleefully side-footed home the goal.
Coventry pressed hard for an equalizer but were unable to trouble the rejuvenated home side, who were on the brink of a third successive win.
Coventry City manager Frank Lampard and Norwich City manager Philip Clement
managers
Philippe Clement of Norwich:
“We had some good chances in the first half, but we missed a bit of quality in the final third. Physically, we knew we could push further in the second half, something we weren’t able to do two months ago.”
“We were able to bring in some fresh players. We expected the game to become more open and kept pressing because otherwise Coventry would have dominated the ball. Our pressing is very important and we need the right energy to do that.”
“We have to be happy with the result and the players can enjoy tonight. But we play the second-place side in the league in a few days so we need to think about that next.”
“I’m really happy with how the team has responded to what we’ve said and how hard they’ve worked. We’ve only been together for 10 or 11 weeks, but I’m glad they’re getting the reward for all their hard work.”
Frank Lampard of Coventry:
“In this league, if you’re substandard, you lose a football match. We gave away their goals, especially the second one, which proved to be important. We could have scored more goals ourselves, but there were mistakes at both ends of the pitch.
“At half-time we wanted to continue our good game but we couldn’t and that gave them the momentum to get back into the game.
“Liam Kitching has been a great player for us this season and I won’t put up with him[for the second goal mistake]. Sometimes you make mistakes in football and you have to stick together.”
“When we opened up the points at the top of the table, there were tough games everywhere in this league and we were under no illusions that it was going to be a long season. The players know we made mistakes that we don’t normally make.”
