Norwich City vs Birmingham City. Sky Bet Championship. Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Norwich and Birmingham at Carrow Road; Oscar Schwartau opened the scoring before Papa Diallo added a second; Carlos Vicente pulled one back but the hosts held on to win Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Norwich continued their rapid climb up the Sky Bet Championship table as they edged past visitors Birmingham 2-1 to make it three wins in four league games. First-half goals from Oscar Schwartau – with a real screamer – and Papa Diallo – his first for the club – saw off a strong challenge from Blues, for whom a second-half effort from Carlos Vicente was scant consolation.
The Spaniard wasted a glorious chance to equalise near the end as Chris Davies’ men slipped to their first league defeat of the season in a game they should have taken something from on the balance of play. Birmingham had the better of the early exchanges at Carrow Road and thought they had taken the lead in the 22nd minute when Liam Miller popped up at the back post to convert. But their joy was cut short by the assistant’s flag going up for offside, with replays showing it was an extremely tight decision. Jay Stansfield had earlier brought a good reaction save out of Vladan Kovacevic after being played in by Miller, but it was Norwich who took the lead in the 28th minute with a real cracker of a goal.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player There seemed little danger when Schwartau picked up the ball in a central area but the young Dane had other ideas, advancing to the edge of the D before lashing an unstoppable right-footed drive past James Beadle. It was the Canaries’ first effort of note of the game – and they made their second count as well to double their advantage in the 39th minute. This time Andre Brooks got to the right byline and had time to look up and pick out and unmarked Diallo to sidefoot home the simplest of goals. Birmingham missed a decent chance to pull one back just before the break when Miller fired just over after good work by Stansfield, leaving Norwich in command of a match which had seen them on the back foot for much of the half.
After a scrappy start to the second period Birmingham got themselves back in the game after 64 minutes with a well-worked goal. Millar was the architect, working himself some space on the left before squaring for Vicente to slide home from just outside the six-yard box. With 20 minutes remaining, Norwich welcomed striker Jovon Makama back after seven months on the sidelines but it was midfielder Pelle Mattsson who almost restored their two-goal advantage with a low shot which brought a brilliant save out of Beadle. Vicente wasted a glorious chance to level five minutes from time after being handed a clear sight of goal by Stansfield before Beadle foiled Anthony Musaba at point-blank range.
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