Norwich 3-1 Birmingham: Marcelino Nunez double beats Blues

Marcelino Nunez tripled his Canaries haul in one night, having previously only scored one goal for Norwich City

Chilean midfielder Marcelino Nunez scored twice as Norwich beat Birmingham City to further revive their Championship promotion hopes.

Nunez netted twice in the space of 10 first-half minutes to put the Canaries in charge at the break.

Blues got one back with Max Collin’s early second-half strike and in the light of their current off-field woes, put up a spirited second-half display.

But they could not summon an equaliser and their third straight defeat was finally sealed in the fourth minute of injury time.

Nunez went down the left to set up Christos Tzolis for the clinching third as Norwich completed a double, having won 2-1 at St Andrew’s in late August, to move back within one point of the play-off zone.

Norwich were the sharper of the two sides before the break, but Blues could still have defended better for both goals.

The first came on 27 minutes when Kevin Long’s clearing header from a right-wing Norwich corner skied into the air to Nunez two yards outside the box – but nearest marker Tahith Chong failed to close him down, turned his back and Nunez connected with a superb volley which dipped into the bottom left corner.

The Blues defence were then at fault again when the Canaries doubled their lead on 36 minutes.

Kenny McLean clipped over a neat ball from the left flank and the statuesque defence looked on in horror as Nunez materialised to steer home his right-foot shot.

Having reached half-time with a 2-0 lead, which could have been more. But injury-hit Blues made a key half-time switch with the introduction of big striker Lukas Jutkiewicz.

The Canaries were then rocked back within eight minutes of the restart, when Hannibal Mejbri squared across from the left, Colin met the ball on the edge of the Norwich box and fired an excellent left-foot shot low into the left corner – a second goal of the season for the Frenchman.

But Blues could find no more – and Nunez then turned supplier to complete Norwich’s fifth straight win over Blues when he set up the killer third for on-loan Greek striker Tzolis, who registered his first goal for the club.

Who’s next?

Norwich are at home again this Saturday, against Cardiff City.

Blues are also at home – to sixth-placed Luton Town.

Norwich City head coach David Wagner:

“It was an unbelievable strike from Nacho. His overall performance was brilliant too, a real 10 out of 10.

“He hasn’t had too many opportunities since I have been here. When he has played it has often been in wide areas, which isn’t really playing to his strengths. But he was given the number 10 role and he gave a perfect performance in that role. It’s something that really suits him.

“He showed it with the second goal when he got into the box to convert Kenny’s cross. He was also all over the pitch, working hard. We love him as a player – and as a character too.

“He isn’t one of those players who learns the language quickly but that hasn’t stopped him from being a really popular member of the group, someone who always has a smile on his face.”

Blues boss John Eustace told BBC Radio WM:

“They scored a world-class goal but we were right in the game up until then.

“The second goal was a case of not doing individual jobs right. We didn’t track the runner. It’s all about doing the basics.

“We then brought Lukas Jutkiewicz off the bench at half-time and looked more like ourselves. The lads showed character in the second half. That’s what we are all about and we should have grabbed a point.

“We missed Dion Sanderson and Troy Deeney, but both Alfie Chang and George Hall came in and did well so there’s positives to take out of it.”

Line-upsNorwich

Formation 4-3-3

28Gunn

2Aarons5Hanley6Gibson30Giannoulis

26Núñez23McLean17Gomes Sara

10Dowell11Idah25Hernández

Substitutes

Birmingham

Formation 4-4-2

21Ruddy

2Colin26Long5Trusty23Longelo

35Hall42Chang7Bacuna18Chong

6Mejbri9Hogan

Substitutes

Referee:Jarred Gillett

Attendance:25,657

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