CITY 3 NORWICH CITY 1 Nationwide Division One 13th January 2002 Attendance 31,794 Scorers ref Roy Pearson |
City Nash, Pearce, Howey, Dunne, Wright-Phillips, Horlock, Berkovic, Benarbia, Tiatto, Goater, Wanchope – subs Ritchie(21), Negouai(unused), Huckerby(62), Killen(86), Weaver(unused)
Norwich Green, Kenton, Fleming, Mackay, Nedergaard, Russell, McVeigh, Holt, Drury, Nielsen, Notman – subs Easton(69), Libbra(69), Rivers(69), Sutch(unused), Crichton(unused)
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WHAT THE PRESS SAID
WHEN The Royal Shakespeare Company decamp from Stratford in the near future for renovations to their home, they should consider Norwich as a temporary base. For they will discover within the confines of Carrow Road a whole host of budding thespians who could tread the boards without diminishing the quality of performance. Best of the lot and surely in line for a ‘Larry’ at the end of the season must be Steen Nedergaard, the Dane whose less than princely face-holding performance helped Danny Tiatto to an early departure. Alas, poor Tiatto did not take kindly to his dismissal and did a one man impersonation of The Tempest The Aussie firebrand saw red, both literally and metaphorically in only the twelfth minute when he reacted to a blatant body check from Nedergaard by grabbing his opponent’s shirt and generally ruffling the Canary’s feathers. The incident, which appeared much ado about very little, was missed by abject referee Roy Pearson and his assistant but spotted by the fourth official Michael Ryan.
Unfortunately Tiatto’s rage at the perceived injustice was uncontrollable. He kicked out violently at the water bottles in front of the Norwich dug-out and finally had to be ushered down the tunnel by Kevin Keegan who showed a surprisingly firm grasp of the latest wrestling holds.
That the hugely impressive Blues were then able to dominate Norwich with ten men said everything about the two sides’ promotion credentials.
The Blues opened up at a rattle and should have had a penalty in the fourth minute when Ali Benarbia’s lob into the box was flicked on by Shaun Goater and Shaun Wright-Phillips was bundled over by Craig Fleming. With a one-man advantage, Norwich looked less inept than they had done in the early exchanges and it took a wonderful save, low to his left, by Carlo Nash to keep the scores level.
City though, ought to have taken the lead four minutes from the break when a cluster of Canaries, or whatever the collective noun might be, failed miserably to deal with Wanchope’s low cross and Berkovic sidefooted wide. The way the Israeli international held his head suggested he was eager for an opportunity to atone for his miss and he did so in spectacular style two minutes later Wanchope was the architect with one of (those rubber-legged, mazy runs of, which only he is capable. He danced and shimmied past half the Norwich team before allowing Goater to take over The leading scorer showed great vision to curl a pass the length of the penalty area where Berkovic was ready to bury a low right footer beyond the despairing dive of Robert Green.
Not that the lead lasted long. Norwich were level within two minutes of re-start thanks to appalling marking from a corner Alex Notman had all the time and space he wanted to pick out David Nielsen and the former Wimbledon man had no trouble netting a six- yard header.
City finally got the penalty they should have had in the first half when Goater chased a 61st minute Berkkovic pass and was tripped by Green. The keeper’s misery was compounded when Wanchope stuck the penalty underneath him. Four minutes later Berkovic collected Nash’s quick throw and ran half length of pitch before skipping past a timid Fleming and then nonchalantly flicking the ball through Green. Measure for measure it was another sublime display from the boys in blue.
FROM MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS BY CHRIS BAILEY AND PAUL HINCE
ANOTHER VIEW OF EYAL BERKOVIC’S GOAL FROM THE CITY MAGAZINE