Friday, March 29

Norwich 2-0 Burnley: Premier League – live reaction!


11:06

That’s it from me. Permission to switch over to City-Liverpool: you can follow that game here with Daniel Harris. Thanks for your company, correspondence and gallows humour.

11:01

So the bottom of the table looks like this.

17 Everton 30 games, 28 points

18 Burnley 30 games, 24 points

19 Watford 31 games, 22 points

20 Norwich 31 games, 21 points

And Burnley’s goal difference, which was the best of the bunch on -17, now joins Everton’s on -19. Watford are on -31, Norwich a seriously impressive -43.

10:58

Look away now if you don’t want to know what happened in the other 2pm kick-offs. After all those away wins this time yesterday, we’ve had three home wins. Brentford have beaten West Ham 2-0, maintaining their revival, and Leicester have hung on to win 2-1 against Palace in the Battle for Ninth and Tenth.

10:55

Full time! Norwich 2-0 Burnley

That’s it! Norwich stay alive with their first win in nine games. Burnley, after going up a ladder in midweek, slide down a snake, back to their inability to score.

And the real winner is … Frank Lampard, who has had the weekend of his dreams.

10:53

90+4 min Chance! Cornet tees up Brownhill, whose sharp low shot is pushed round the post by Krul.

10:51

90+2 min The ball lands on the roof of the Norwich net, without ever looking as if it was going in.

Alan Smith picks his man of the match and it’s Ben Gibson in the Norwich defence. I have a nasty feeling I haven’t mentioned him once. They also serve who elude the MBM.

10:49

90 min Burnley have five minutes to save their season.

10:48

89 min Pukki goes off to a great ovation. On comes Christos Tzolis, a young Greek bearing a fearsome haircut.

10:47

88 min That was Norwich’s tenth shot of this half, to Burnley’s five. They’ve earned the three points.

10:45

GOAL! Norwich 2-0 Burnley (Pukki 86)

The clincher! Burnley’s defence, usually so organised, parts like the Red Sea, leaving Pukki in loads of space. He finishes clinically.

Teemu Pukki wraps up a much-needed three points for Norwich City with the second goal for the home side.
Teemu Pukki wraps up a much-needed three points for Norwich City with the second goal for the home side. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images/Reuters
10:43

84 min Another Norwich sub: Brandon Williams, on loan from Man United, on for Giannoulis. And one for Burnley too: Ashley Barnes for Jay Rodriguez. A final throw of the Dyche.

10:41

83 min A Burnley attack peters out because of a badly overhit cross.

A tweet! From someone called The Flying Pasty. It goes like this, in full: “I scream Cornet.”

10:39

79 min Close! At the other end. Rashica leads a breakaway, has support, doesn’t use it, hits a decent shot but Krul manages to parry it.

10:37

79 min Close! Hanley flicks on Pukki’s chip and shaves the top of the woodwork.

10:36

78 min Pukki plays a lovely nutmeg and then gets fouled by Charlie Taylor – given as a free kick by Michael Oliver, but was it just inside the box? No, a foot outside.

10:35

75 min Burnley’s turn to attack without achieving much. Cornet is back on, happily. A caption says that Norwich have conceded 16 late goals this season (after 76 mins), so there is one table they are top of.

“God speaks,” says Mary Waltz. “I will claim divine intervention on that Cornet miss.”

10:32

73 min Cornet gets up, thankfully, but goes off. As play resumes, Norwich make it into the Burnley box without mustering a shot.

10:30

71 min It’s Burnley’s turn to have two men down because they’ve clashed heads – Rodriguez, who is a target man, and Cornet, who isn’t but perhaps wanted to atone for his miss. There’s a delay while they both get some attention. Rodriguez seems OK, Cornet less so.

10:27

68 min Time for a Norwich sub: Lukas Rupp comes on and Lees-Melou goes off, for fear of a red. He gets a big hand, just deserts for his goal.

10:25

67 min Replays suggest that Cornet missed it because he shinned it. Taylor has a header, and then Norwich storm up the other end, where Pukki shoots wide. Suddenly this game has taken up where it left off at half-time.

10:24

66 min Big miss! McNeil’s first action is a superb curling cross for Cornet, who misses a half-open goal.

Huge miss for Burnley and Maxwel Cornet!
Huge miss for Burnley and Maxwel Cornet! Photograph: Joe Toth/REX/Shutterstock
10:23

65 min Sean Dyche shuffles the pack again: Lennon off, McNeil on. Lennon was half the player today that he was on Wednesday night.

10:22

63 min Both Burnley full-backs overlap in the same move, Lowton chipping in with a cross, Taylor with a dribble. But Burnley have still had only one shot in this half, to Norwich’s five. They have half an hour to save their season.

10:19

61 min Pope, coming out to clear a through ball, kicks it about three yards, but he’s spared the death of a thousand replays when the loose ball refuses to fall to a pair of Norwich feet.

10:17

60 min Lees-Melou, already on a yellow, fouls Taylor, right in front of the ref. He must be on an orange now.

10:17

58 min Two players collide going for a header, and they’re both in yellow – Hanley and Byram. They’re back on their feet soon enough.

10:15

57 min A sub! Weghorst, who seems to be in pain, gives way to Vydra.

10:14

56 min Norwich take a corner and try to save time by sending to straight to Lees-Melou in the D, but his shot is nothing like as good as the one that may decide this match.

10:13

54 min Burnley get away with a blunder as Brownhill’s pass goes straight to a yellow shirt in midfield. Pukki’s shot is just delayed enough to allow a block.

10:12

52 min Burnley make their presence felt as Cornet wins a free kick. It lands on the head of Rodriguez, but he can’t keep it down.

“Take it from this Norwich fan and veteran of many village discos Tim,” says Rod Wooden, “Gilmour’s absence from our line up is a real positive. I have no idea why Smith keeps playing him. He’s very lightweight and I can’t see him getting into the team once he goes back to Chesea. Strange thing is, he seems to play well for Scotland, but for us he’s a dead loss.”

10:09

50 min A minute of nothing much, for once. “Recovering from my Everton win over United hangover,” says Mary Waltz, “I wasn’t expecting much help from the Canaries. But both teams are playing far above their form. Who cares about Liverpool-City, hang on you lovely birds.”

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10:07

49 min Rashica has a go from distance, with swerve and dip but not the right direction – straight at Pope.

10:06

48 min Norwich get into the Burnley box but this time they’re taking the aerial route, which is just where Tarkowski and Co. like it.

Norwich
Photograph: Joe Toth/REX/Shutterstock

10:05

46 min We have a killer stat for you, or rather Sky do: this is only the second time in ten years that Burnley have had more than 50pc possession in the first half of a Premier League game. They managed it once before against West Brom.

10:03

“You are right.” says Kári Tulinius, “about how good Pukki is at finding space. I imagine no Norwich fan wants to hear it, but having seen a lot of him through the years with Norwich and Finland, he could surely do a job with a team higher up the table. He seems to like it in Norfolk, however. Enjoy the match!” Thanks, I am.

09:50

Half-time! Norwich 1-0 Burnley

Norwich manage to get upfield for the final scene of a pulsating 47 minutes. It’s been a half of two games: a desperation derby, full of blocks and bravery, but also, impressively, a flowing football match.

We’ve had 16 shots (10-6 to Burnley), nine corners (5-4 to Burnley), no clear-cut chances and one goal (1-0 to Norwich). Time for a cup of tea.

09:46

45 min Another minute, another free kick to Burnley. Pope takes it, near the halfway line, and Norwich deal with it at the second attempt. There will be two added mins.

09:45

43 min Yet another corner to Burnley. It comes out to Westwood, who hits one of the sweetest volleys you’ll ever see, but it’s blocked by some brave person. And then another corner, another shot from the D, and another body in the way.

09:42

41 min Yet another free kick to Burnley, fairly central. Brownhill takes it, rather than Cornet, and it ends up in Row Z.

It’s still coming down.
It’s still coming down. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA

09:40

40 min One reason to believe for Burnley is that they keep winning free kicks. Byram hands them a freebie by pulling Cornet’s shirt, but Norwich see off the danger, twice, with diligent defending.

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