August 23rd • 3/46 • 1-2 (L)
I almost wasn't going to bother with a post for this game and was just going to roll it into the League Cup game against Southampton on Tuesday. Overall, a bit of a clusterfuck.
Conceding two right before half time after being the better side for most of the first half and having the most chances was a heavy blow to take. The first came from a Boro player left in acres of space and Medić not closing him down before beating Kovačević at his near post, and the second came from Topić with a poor touch from a pass leading to him letting the ball go in midfield (and also no real attempt at a block when he tracked back to the goal line either) before a cheeky back heel flick from their Number 9 put them two up in the space of about three minutes. After the second I audibly shouted "fuck" and held my head in my hands. Like Millwall, Boro just seemed to be better drilled and organised and took their chances better than we did, but they were essentially gifted both goals.
Stacey going off with what looked like a concussion after being knocked out and Wright being sent off for a bit of a late tackle essentially wrapped the day up. It was good to see the Mayor of Norwich himself Kenny McClean back, although I wasn't sure he was really what we needed at 2-0 down chasing the game seeing as he's just come back from injury (which turned out to be wrong). Kvistgaarden came on and looked good but really want to see him get more minutes. I have a soft spot for Crnac but he had another fairly bland game today.
Sargent managed to get one back with a nice lob over the keeper following a lovely ball pinged up the pitch from McClean (see, he was what we needed after all, shows how much I know) after 85 minutes to make it 4 from 4 for him, but it was too little too late. I was at the Boro game last season where we came back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 and I was hoping we'd be able to salvage a point here in similar fashion, and I think if we weren't a man down we probably could have done as we had a lot of energy for the rest of the game (despite having to deal with time wasting and Sargent being pulled down by his throat without so much as a free kick) but it wasn't to be this time round.
For the second home game in a row we got away with leaving an open goal, after Kovačević came out of his box to clear the ball but passed it straight to a Boro player, and everyone held their breath as we watched a shot thankfully curl away from goal behind him.
I'll hopefully be going to the return fixture in January and I'm sure we'll be a lot better by then, right? Speaking of away days, I'm hoping to be able to go to Coventry in a few weeks, and they've won their last two games 5-3 followed by 7-1 today, so I'm sure that will go brilliantly.