Canaries secure their legacy vs. Man United
Christopher Lee/Getty ImagesThe Canaries defending -- in particular, England reserve goalkeeper John Ruddy -- was immense vs. Man United. Anthony Pilkington and the rest of his Norwich City brothers in arms elevated themselves to legend status with a deserved 1-0 Premier League win over Manchester United at a raucous Carrow Road.
No longer will they talk only of the 2005 victory -- City's solitary previous success over the Red machine in 21 years -- after a magnificently composed display from Chris Hughton's men.
John Ruddy underlined to the watching England manager Roy Hodgson why he should be considered a serious back-up option to Joe Hart, but this was no rearguard action. Overall, City were the better side in the second period and should have sewn up the victory when Jonny Howson burst through but dragged horribly wide in stoppage time. Norwich's winner, meanwhile, was a fitting epitaph to an historic occasion as Pilkington rose majestically to glance a looping header beyond Anders Lindergaard on the hour mark from Javier Garrido's cross.
Norwich not only mined three more precious Premier League points, but also made it six games unbeaten in all competitions and a fifth clean sheet. The Canaries also sent the starkest reminder to the likes of Reading and Southampton -- both notable victors on Saturday -- that Norwich will take some shifting to relinquish their top flight status.
Shorn of Wayne Rooney before kick-off, Robin van Persie and Javier Hernandez showed only flashes of their recent predatory brilliance. Hughton publicly outed the gameplan during the pre-match build-up and his heroic troops carried it out to the letter. City were compact in defense as they sought to deny United any pockets of space in front of Ruddy, while also presenting an ever-present danger on the counter.
More: United attack silenced at Carrow Road
Ruddy superbly clawed out Ashley Young's goalbound hit in the opening period but there was no sense of the visitors swamping an outclassed home unit. Norwich looked a completely different outfit from the rabble dismantled by the likes of Fulham on the opening day of the season and the games prior to the previous international break against Liverpool and Chelsea.
In this type of stellar form, Norwich can start to look upwards to the clubs occupying safer middle ground in the table rather than continue to keep such more modest ambitions of survival. Michael Turner has been transformed from the brittle presence at the heart of the City backline in his first few outings for the club following a summer move from Sunderland. The teak-tough centre back was a colossus alongside the thoroughbred movements of Sebastien Bassong. Alex Tettey and Bradley Johnson subdued the central midfield duo of Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs to such an extent that Sir Alex was forced to turn, forlornly, to his veteran Paul Scholes.
Up top, Grant Holt and Wes Hoolahan were back to their dynamic best after a strangely subdued cameo against Reading last weekend. Mercifully, that goalless stalemate at the Madejski now looks like a blip in a curve that looks to bend upwards.
In all, the sky could really be the limit on the fresh evidence of this 90 minutes against the serial title contenders.
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