Norwich boss Farke hails ‘massive’ win as Canaries return to the top

Posted Sunday, December 23, 2018 by PA

Norwich manager Daniel Farke described the 1-0 win at Blackburn as his side’s biggest win of the season after they returned to the top of the Championship.

Neither side created a host of chances, but the Farke’s team always looked the most likely to snatch the points.

The Canaries were frustrated by a dogged Rovers side, but they were opened up four minutes from time, giving Norwich’s top scorer Teemu Pukki a simple tap-in – his 14th goal this season – to hand the visitors their ninth win in the last 11 league games.

On this evidence, Norwich will be right in the mix for automatic promotion at the end of the season, and after they registered a third successive win at Ewood Park for the first time in their history, Farke was full of praise at his young team’s ability to carve out the win.

He said: “It a massive win. We have had several outstanding performances and brilliant wins, played some nice pieces of football, and had away wins with four goals, but my feeling is this is the biggest win during the whole season and really a massive win for us.

“Especially because of the situation we had to handle during the game. Yes, big compliments to the lads and we are all pleased.

“I think in the end it was a well deserved win, especially for such a young side. Even experienced and successful sides are pretty often struggling in these types of games, and after the setbacks during the game, to be there with such a young side, then to be competitive and to win this game in the end against a side that had one loss in the last 31 home games – big, big compliment to Tony and his lads who are doing a fantastic job – it is outstanding for us and a massive win.”

Blackburn have failed to beat Norwich in their last five meetings now, and fall to 14th after a third defeat in six.

Rovers manager Tony Mowbray believes ‘fine margins’ decided the game, which he believes would have been different had his side taken their chances.

He said: “I thought we played pretty well, competed against a team who are top of the table. I thought we probably had the best chances to win the game, we knew they would have a lot of possession, it’s the way they play.

“But I think on the back of that, we had the best opportunities. It was a fine, tight game, with fine margins and we came out of the wrong end of it really.

“I could easily have been stood here talking about a 1-0 win or a 0-0 draw but we’re frustrated, disappointed, but we move onto the next game.

“They put a lot of work into today’s match. We finished really with 10 men. With Harrison Reed, it’s difficult to bring him off after you’ve made the three substitutions. He was a standing man really and maybe that was the difference – the inability to cover areas of the pitch that we had done pretty well for 85 minutes.

“With 10 men, we found it difficult because they’re a very expansive team. But yes, frustrated that we failed to take one of our chances. It’s an opportunity missed.”