It was the proverbial game of two halves, with Leeds being good value for the lead we held at half-time through Mad Max’s goal. But Norwich City came back strongly after the break to claim a point they deserved for their second half performance.
The one change from the starting eleven who began the game against Bristol City was to recall hat-trick hero Becchio in place of Somma, so Grayson was sticking with the five man midfield that has served us so well in recent weeks. In Faye’s continued absence Johnson was again playing as the defensive midfielder in front of the back four, and I’m sure I heard one or two of the Leeds contingent booing him in the wake of his refusal to sign a new contract.
After a couple of wayward shots from Johnson and Howson, we took the lead with our first decent attack in the 13th. minute. There was a hint of controversy when the ball bounced off Becchio’s chest, though my Norwich mate swore it was handball. As the defenders stopped in the hope of getting a free kick Becchio chased the ball to edge of the area and was brought down by a late tackle. But the ref played advantage as the ball ran to Gradel on the left, and Max brought the ball inside before smashing it past Ruddy with his right foot.
For the rest of the half we enjoyed more of the possession, and Max was close to a second when Ruddy tipped a fierce shot over the bar. But on other occasions the mad one was back to his infuriating headless chicken mode, and he wasted one good break by running the ball straight out of play with several colleagues well placed in the box. We also tended to put our crosses and corners too close to Ruddy, who was excellent at coming out to claim everything in the air.
Norwich’s best effort of the half came when Crofts beat the offside trap and took the ball round Scmeichel, but could only shoot into the side netting. But they came out for the second half looking far more determined and they were close to getting the equaliser when Holt headed against the post and the ball bounced back into Scmeichel’s grateful arms. The Danish stopper was again called into action when he tipped a shot from Martin round the post.
You could say the equaliser was coming, and again there was a touch of controversy about the 65th minute goal. By the time Barnett headed a corner into the net Scmeichel was flat on his back, and I never saw how he got there, as I was following the ball as it was played to edge of the box. The TV coverage was also inconclusive as he was already on the floor by the time he came into shot, so I’m still none the wiser, but Schmeichel himself was convinced he was fouled and let the linesman know in no uncertain terms.
Norwich continued to press, but O’Brien was an absolute rock for us at the back as we restricted the number of chances they created, though Schmeichel had to keep out a decent shot from Ward. At the other end we managed to break out and force a couple of corners, but Becchio was getting increasingly frustrated as there weren’t many decisions going his way. As things got a little bit heated Kilkenny was booked for a late tackle, and it was amusing to hear the home fans calling him a “dirty northern bastard”. Actually, Australia was quite a long way south of Norwich when I last looked at my atlas.
If we were going to snatch a win we really needed some fresh legs on the field, but with Leeds still coming under pressure Grayson seemed reluctant to take the risk and decided not to make any changes till the final ten minutes. The final proof he was happy with a point was his final substation, with Becchio coming off to be replaced by an extra defender in the shape of Collins.
Four minutes of injury time failed to separate the teams, before the ref brought a halt to this hard-fought contest. All that remained was for Scmeichel to complete the proceedings by confronting the officials as the players left the field, before storming off in disgust. On the balance of play over the whole ninety minutes this was a fair result, and Grayson was probably right to hold out for a draw, which was a good result away from home against fellow play-off contenders.
With the unbeaten run stretching to five games it’s good to see us looking far more solid at the back these days, and if we can hang on to Andy O’Brien for a while longer, we might even dare to dream of a top six finish at the end of the season. Here’s hoping!