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“Just a blip”, “We’re all behind you”: Some Norwich fans remain positive despite 3-1 defeat to Preston + Match report

Preston 3-1 Norwich City: Canaries lose their chance to stay on top

Norwich City lost their chance to maintain the lead at the top of the Championship after a 3-1 slump against Preston North End. The game began with the home side clearly in the ascendancy as Preston were moving the ball much better than the league leaders.

Within two minutes of the commencement of the game, Preston found the opening goal as well. Teemu Pukki fouled Darnell Fisher on the right flank, which gave Paul Gallagher an opportunity to whip the ball into the Canaries box. His swinging ball fell straight onto the head of Ben Davies who smashed it into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 to the home side.

This triggered a good response from a strong Norwich side as they began to push to find the equaliser.

Despite some large pressure on the Preston defence, they seemed to stand strong. The possession strongly tilted in the Canaries’ favour but it didn’t result in a goal because of some shabby play in the final third.

As the half wore on, Norwich began to take control of the pace of the game and this is why the penalty to Preston really did come as a massive surprise. Buendia brought down Fisher in the box and the referee pointed straight to the spot.

Paul Gallagher stepped up to take the penalty and coolly slotted the ball past an absolutely hapless Tim Krul stranded in the middle of the Norwich goal to make it 2-0 for the home side.

Image result for norwich preston

This really put the pressure back on the league leaders as they began to push for a comeback in what was a must-win game in order to maintain top spot. Unfortunately, despite dominating the ball and creating multiple chances, they were unable to pierce the Preston defence.

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In the second half, Norwich began with a lot more intent but history seemed to repeat itself as in the 69th minute, after a long flurry of Norwich attacks, Preston found the third goal to ensure victory. In the final knockings of the game, Norwich did get one goal back through a low shot from a tight angle by Teemu Pukki but it ended up as nothing more than a consolation.

Here’s how some Norwich City fans reacted to this difficult defeat: