Norwich match report - from sending off

In essence the game did change at that very point, although it took Norwich until the second half to exploit the changing dynamics. The danger signs for us at this stage is that there did not seem to be a clear alternative team formation when down to ten. With Hassell moving into the middle, I seemed first to see Devaney filling in at right back – then Togwell seemed to be there. The midfield was also a kaleidoscope – first there seemed to be just three in midfield with Hayes and Richards remaining up front – then Hayes seemed to drop to left midfield with just Richards up front and McIndoe moving into centre-left midfield. We became destabilised and a bit confused with to many rapid permutations taking place. Nonetheless, remember that we were still bossing the game at this stage and Norwich had not really began to take a grip of it. For me, however, the dangers were obvious. Huckerby had been utterly played out of the game by Hassell and I think this would have continued to be the case had the back four remained unchanged. Bringing another player (and they seemed to change by the minute) back to mark Huckerby gave him a foothold in the game – shame really, because he still looked past it and poor at this stage. The other obvious danger was Lee Croft who was starting to give Williams a torrid time. He spelled danger every time he got the ball and I don’t think this would have been any different regardless of the sending off. Norwich’s second goal came from exactly this source. Croft could seem to make space for himself at will both outside and inside Williams and, from one such sally down our left, he cut back a good cross along the ground in front of our back four for Robinson to score with an exceptional shot from 25 yards. It was the sort of shot which goes wide eight time in ten, but no such luck for us as it struck our right upright and rocketed into the net.

We were still taking our own game to Norwich, their midfield three a defence looking very jittery and uncoordinated still. We now needed the goal. We had a good header from Richards into Gallagher’s hands and a succession of corners from good pressure. We deserved something from this and got it when Richards chased down a ball into the penalty area, held off Doherty and squared for Hayes to score with a shot which deflected to leave Gallagher no chance. “Ten men! We’ve only got ten men!” chanted the Oakwell faithful and you had to admire another storming effect by the ten Super Reds out there. There was the best move of the half down the Norwich left with Howard and Devaney heavily involved in excellent one-touch play to square just needing the finish from McIndoe, but he hit the defender and only got a corner. I was thinking that 2-1 at half time would be good given the circumstances – we could re-organise properly at half time and contain the game in the second with, perhaps, a breakaway to equalise. No such chance!

Second half: We seemed to start the second half with just Hassell, Reid and Williams at the back, five in midfield and just Richards up front. The three at the back made sense in some ways, as Norwich were only playing Earnshaw as a single central striker. However, the weakness of the formation was quickly evident, as it didn’t give us a covering central defender to move across as secondary cover against Croft, or Huckerby. The whole emphasis of the match was about to shift dramatically. I potential threat from Huckerby wasn’t clear after 45 minutes, as he had looked poor and well contained, initially by Hassell. The potential threat from Lee Croft was all too clear and, to stand any chance of stemming Norwich as an attacking threat, he had to be closed down. We didn’t manage this and, with Huckerby suddenly finding acres of space down our right, the game shifted, in truth only on the skill and pace of these two players. Huckerby got wide down our right, turned Hassell inside out in characteristic mode and squared from Croft to arrive beyond the far post to make it 3-1. Huckerby then did the same to Hassell, but claimed the goal for himself at 4-1. Finally, Huckerby did the same again, this time to provide the cross for Earnshaw to squeeze a header inside our left-hand post. I was left feeling, even at this stage that we didn’t deserve a stuffing like this. The confidence spread to the whole Norwich team and we were out of it in every sense, After the fourth goal went in, I have to say that players heads did drop, which was disappointing, if understandable. The result was also that our standard of play dropped and players on the ball weren’t supported as well as they should be, there was less running off the ball – with twenty minutes still remaining, I thought we could be in for an even bigger drubbing. Ritchie must confront the players about the dropping heads after goal four – if you let the standard of play slip, it comes too easily into the next match. Teams that are going to be tough continue to play even when losing like this, even if just for the pride of the team, or thinking about the next match, or their own place in the team. I think this is the first time this season that heads have dropped, so I hope that Ritchie recognises it – it needs tactful man-management, but we can’t afford for it to happen – we can do more than survive in this league and the attitude so far has been brilliant. It needs to go on being so right through to next May. Come on, lads. I was proud of the quality of football and the never-say-die attitude. Don’t let one poor result (and it flattered Norwich) get you down. We can do this.

The only other incident to report was a good free-kick from Howard, which Gallagher pushed round the post for a corner.