André Ayew sparks Swansea victory over Norwich to close gap at top

When does a blip become something more major? Whatever this sticky patch is for Norwich City, it is impossible to ignore the changing landscape at the top of the Championship. Swansea cut Norwich’s lead at the summit to two points after goals by André Ayew and Conor Hourihane.

Norwich may have fired blanks for the fourth successive game but Hourihane is on quite the streak, with a superb strike here his third goal since arriving on loan from Aston Villa a fortnight ago. Brentford and Reading, both of whom have games in hand on the leaders, will be equally encouraged by Norwich hitting a rut.

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Ayew capitalised on an error by Tim Krul to open the scoring before Hourihane sent a rasping strike beyond the Norwich goalkeeper from distance. Swansea should have had a late penalty too, but the referee Simon Hooper waved away appeals despite Ben Gibson and Grant Hanley appearing to fell the substitute Jordan Morris and Connor Roberts respectively.

On the eve of this game Swansea’s unpopular American owners gave a rare interview in which they broke their silence on a multitude of longstanding issues but also made a point of stressing they have not been “taking a victory lap” on the back of their impressive start under Steve Cooper. For Norwich to be in contention at the top is not so surprising but they arrived in south Wales hoping to rediscover their step after two stalemates in four days.

Perhaps it was kidology but Daniel Farke had been at pains to play down the significance of the occasion after stuttering to a point at Millwall on Tuesday. He freshened things up with Kenny McLean and Jacob Sorensen returning to the starting lineup but it was the usual suspects at the heart of things for Norwich, again without Emi Buendia, who served the final game of a two-match ban. Todd Cantwell, among those of interest to the watching England Under-21s manager Aidy Boothroyd, set Teemu Pukki free with a wonderfully weighted pass but the striker fluffed his lines. Moments earlier Krul scrambled across goal to prevent a lurking Jamal Lowe from possibly prodding in after a blind back pass by Lukas Rupp plunged Norwich into trouble.

Marc Guehi, the Swansea defender on loan from Chelsea, will also have impressed Boothroyd, though the centre-back was fortunate to escape a booking for upending Cantwell in full flow. Guehi glided towards the 18-yard box to earn an early free-kick and slipped in Lowe approaching the half-hour but the forward pulled his shot too close to Krul. Max Aarons crept forward with purpose for Norwich but the full-back had to be alert at the other end to prevent Conor Hourihane powering in from Connor Roberts’ long throw.

Guehi was involved when Swansea seized the advantage three minutes before the interval but the goal was a tragicomedy from a Norwich perspective. Krul flapped at Roberts’ in-swinging corner and when the ball dropped, Guehi scooped the ball away from the Norwich goalkeeper’s grasp, allowing Swansea to feast on the leftovers. Jake Bidwell tried his luck and then Ayew fired in his ninth goal of the season. Farke sought a response and Freddie Woodman saved superbly to keep out Grant Hanley’s header on the brink of the interval after the captain met Przemyslaw Placheta’s free-kick.

Krul came out early to limber up for the second half but before Norwich had a chance to write the wrongs, they found themselves two goals down.

Jay Fulton gobbled up possession following a loose pass by McLean and played a sliderule pass infield to Hourihane, who joined on loan last month in search of regular game time. The midfielder steadied himself with first touch and then arrowed a piercing left-footed strike into the corner with his second. Krul shook his head in disbelief and Farke fumed.

On the touchline a yellow wall emerged, as Norwich made a triple change, with Adam Idah among those introduced. There were glimpses of class – Cantwell twirled away from Matt Grimes before freeing McLean to shoot wide – but Norwich were off-colour.