Brilliant Buendia brace sends Norwich back to the top of the Championship

Posted Thursday, March 14, 2019 by PA

Norwich returned to the top of the Sky Bet Championship with a 3-2 win over Hull at Carrow Road on the evening manager Daniel Farke signed a new long-term contract with the club.

After being knocked off the summit by Leeds on Tuesday night the Canaries swiftly re-asserted their authority, with goals from Marco Stiepermann and Emi Buendia putting them two up inside 14 minutes.

Although the Tigers pulled one back on the stroke of half-time through Marc Pugh, the hosts were irresistible after the break, with Buendia scoring his second on the hour mark.

Former Norwich striker Chris Martin marked his return to Carrow Road by making it 3-2 four minutes from time with a close-range header but Norwich saw out the game with few problems.

The result completed a perfect night for the hosts, with the club revealing just before kick-off that Farke and his staff had committed their futures to the club until June 2022.

Hull started brightly, with Markus Henriksen clipping the crossbar with an early free-kick, only for Norwich to score twice in four minutes.

After 10 minutes Stiepermann waltzed through a static defence and blasted the ball past former City goalkeeper David Marshall for his seventh goal of the season, and third in his last five games.

The visitors then failed to pick out a run into the box from the lively Onel Hernandez and although Marshall made a good stop to keep out his shot, the ball bounced kindly for Buendia to tap home to make it 2-0.

Marshall conjured a brilliant flying save to deny Buendia midway through the half before then curling another effort just wide, being denied again by Marshall as well as sending a free-kick narrowly over as he took centre stage.

Despite Norwich’s dominance, they conceded a soft goal just before the break, with Pugh pouncing to fire a low shot into the bottom corner.

Norwich settled any nerves on the hour mark with Buendia’s second of the game, with the goal featuring two outrageous flicks.

A quick break down the left saw a back heel from Buendia to put top scorer Temmu Pukki in the clear.

Although the Finn failed to take the ball cleanly, he had the vision to find the overlapping Buendia with another delightful touch, and Norwich’s man of the moment fired home from close range.

Hull did pull one back on 86 minutes when Martin headed home a left-wing cross from fellow substitute Kamil Grosicki but it proved to be only a minor irritation for the hosts.