Norwich City Wins Second Consecutive Match in 2-1 Win over Sunderland

New York, NY

 Hello fellow Canaries supporters! Fantastic win for our lads as they won for the second consecutive week. With a 2-1 result over Sunderland, Norwich City registered their first win at Carrow Road in front of an audience of 26,107 on Monday. 

For those of you attended the match, you were fantastic! You're the reason why I have every intention of visiting Carrow Road come April 2012. I've always enjoyed the times I've visited England. The next time I visit, I have every intention of staying at Norwich. Not only do I want to learn about the Canaries, I'm committed to learning about your city. 

Due to the change of the channel where the match was going to be played, I was joined with fellow NY Canaries members at the Football Factory at Legends NYC instead of our usual spot at George Keeley. Despite missing our home environment, the staff at Football Factory was fantastic. 

Prior to becoming a Canaries supporter, I've always enjoyed going to the Football Factory because the atmosphere and food is fantastic to watch a football match. So if you ever visit New York City and you're around 33rd St, please visit the Football Factory. Not only is staff affable, they (especially Jack and Robbie) have been the best football teachers one can ask for with their vast knowledge of the Premier League and other leagues worldwide.

Getting back to Monday's match against Sunderland, I was pleased with how the Canaries started the match aggressively and made a point to attack the net. Even though the play was level for the opening minutes, I believe City was still the aggressor as they managed to combine short passes with the rest of the team moving well without the ball. 

As a result of their spirited effort, City was able to take a 1-0 lead with the combination of midfielders Elliot Bennett and David Fox who were able to successfully breakdown Sunderland with their "give and go" passing. With Bennett passing to Fox and then back to Bennett, he was able to execute a well-timed cross to teammate defender Leon Barnett who tapped the ball past Sunderland's goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.

With Norwich leading 1-0, my only hope was that City wouldn't be called for a penalty in the penalty area. After five matches of watching however, the opposition was awarded a penalty kick, and I'd had enough. With the half concluding 1-0 Norwich, I knew the Canaries needed to produce another goal in order to possibly win this pivotal match in the team's young season. 

In the second half, City supporters at Legends erupted into a state of euphoria as they witnessed striker Steve Morison score the second goal of the match with a fantastic header from six yards out in the 48th minute. 

Despite trailing City by a two goals, Sunderland continued to attack and was able to reduce the deficit to one when midfielder Kieran Richardson scored Sunderland's only goal in the 86th minute of the match. 

With four minutes remaining and an additional five in stoppage time, it was refreshing to watch City hang on to win. As a result of Monday night's victory, the Canaries are currently ranked ninth in the Premier League standings. Playing in a league where every match is critical, it'll be interesting to see if Norwich possesses the ability to remain in the top 15. 

Statistically, Norwich was fortunate to have been able to capitalize on their opportunities because while the final result was 2-1, Sunderland had a 57.2 - 42.8 percent possession. In addition, their passing success was at 75.8 percent whereas City's was at 68.6.

Despite Norwich's 19-14 advantage on tackles, Sunderland's tackle success was a whopping 85.7 percent better than Norwich's 63.2. While City possessed a 7-4 edge on corner kicks, Sunderland was able to counter that statistic with a 12-7 shots on target advantage. 

So how did Norwich City win? It's pretty simple...individual performances and not giving up too many fouls. Norwich City's goalkeeper John Ruddy played a better match than his counterpart Simon Mignolet. In a match City needed to win, Ruddy rose to the occasion as he registered five well-timed saves as opposed to Mignolet's two save attempt. More importantly, Ruddy allowed only one goal as opposed to Mignolet's two goals. 

Norwich's midfielder quartet of Bradley Johnson, Anthony Pilkington, Wes Hoolahan, and David Fox had combined for a total of 187 passes where they accurately passed 149 successful passes for a 79.6 percent pass completion. Leading the way was Wes Hoolahan who successfully completed 39-of-46 passes for an 84.8 percent pass completion.

While Steve Morison may have scored the game-winner for Norwich, his pass completion rating was a 23.8 percent as he only successfully converted 5-of-21 passes.  

Sunderland may have the overall better team statistics, but Norwich held an advantage on fouls called as they were only called for four as opposed to the seven against Sunderland. As a result of the number of fouls Sunderland was called for, City was able to take advantage of that as evidenced by their 51.4 percent to 48.6 percent territorial advantage. 

With the season still young, there's sufficient time for Norwich to become more cohesive. Hopefully, we'll see Grant Holt find his rhythm because I believe he'll return to his form once he's given more touches.

Following their first win at Carrow Road, the Canaries now travel to Old Trafford where they will face Premier League juggernaut Manchester United (5-1-0) on Saturday, Oct. 1st. Until then, I'll continue with my Canaries education.

Please feel free to contact me via email or Twitter.

Thanks for reading! OTBC!

Barclays Premier League Standings as of September 27, 2011

1. Manchester United (5-1-0, 16 pts); 2. Manchester City (5-1-0, 16 pts); 3. Chelsea (4-1-1, 13 pts); 4. Newcastle United (3-3-0, 12 pts); 5. Liverpool (3-1-2, 10 pts); 6. Tottenham Hotspur (3-0-2, 9 pts); 7. Stoke City (2-3-1, 9 pts); 8. Aston Villa (1-5-0, 8 pts); 9. Norwich City (2-2-2, 8 pts); 10. Queens Park Rangers (2-2-2, 8 pts); 11. Everton (2-1-2, 7 pts); 12. Wolverhampton Wanderers (2-1-3, 7pts); 13. Arsenal (2-1-3, 7 pts); 14. Sunderland (1-2-3, 5 pts); 15. Wigan Athletic (1-2-3, 5 pts); 16. Swansea City (1-2-3, 5pts); 17. Fulham (0-4-2, 4 pts); 18. Blackburn Rovers (1-1-4, 4 pts); 19. West Bromwich Albion (1-1-4, 4 pts); 20. Bolton Wanderers (1-0-5, 3 pts)

Cesar Diaz covers Soccer for LatinoSports.com. He also writes for 5 Points Press  & USSoccerPlayers.com; your source for American Soccer news brought to you by members of the U.S. National Team. Easily accessible, you may reach Cesar at [e-mail] and at Twitter at @CoveringSoccer.