Chris Martin keeps spring in Norwich's step as Leeds falter again
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/mar/29/norwich-city-leeds-united-league-one
League One
Norwich City 1
* Martin, C 89
Leeds United 0
Jeremy Alexander at Carrow Road
The Guardian, Monday 29 March 2010
Norwich v Leeds
"We've given ourselves a bit of daylight," said Paul Lambert shortly
before the clocks went forward. It was an understatement. Norwich City
had just beaten their closest challengers with a late goal that took
them 11 points clear in the division with eight games left. But it was
not as daft as an unrelated headline yesterday that said: "Parties back
clock change to give extra hour of light." The sun may dispute that.
There is no disputing the force propelling Norwich back towards the
Championship and the sun shone on them here. This is their time of year
– daffodils and first-mown grass – and yellow and green filled Carrow
Road with burgeoning expectancy. Crowds have held up as the club has
gone down, averaging only 1,400 short of the 26,000 capacity. Saturday's
beat three in the Premier League and far surpassed all but one in the
Championship. They are below their station and know it.
Centuries before City were on the ball Thomas Fuller wrote of Norwich:
"The pleasure of the country and populousness of the city meet here
together." It is still true. Carrow Road is the sporting heart of the
county. Within minutes of the end a team with pitchforks were tending
the field. Fuller also described Norwich as "either a city in an orchard
or an orchard in a city". The goal was a peach out of keeping with the
barrel of bad fruit before it.
For 88 minutes the occasion was too big for everyone, too tight for
creativity. In 1997 Lambert won the Champions League with Borussia
Dortmund, marking Juventus's Zinedine Zidane into anonymity. There were
no Zidanes here and lots of Lamberts on both sides. No one gave an inch
or found one. Closing down was the order and the ball was passed like a
hot potato or hoofed into the safety of the sky. It was sponsored by a
flooring company.
The goal made no sense for Leeds of what had gone before. They were
looking for the win that mattered more to them than City when Stephen
Hughes broke down the right and Chris Martin flung himself to beat the
cover, meet the cross and glance in an unstoppable header. Both were
substitutes. Simon Grayson's in response was less successful. Trésor
Kandol, sent on to seize the moment, seized Darel Russell's neck instead
and was on and off in 58 seconds, lit and snuffed without touching the
ball. The match was a climax without a play.
Since Lambert started imbuing his work ethic City have picked up 81
points from 35 games and the club, disturbed by Celtic's interest, dare
to believe his stated commitment to them. Leeds, whose station was once
greater, amassed 56 from 23 before they won in the Cup at Old Trafford
and 15 from 15 since. Millwall are level, Swindon a point behind and
next Saturday's visitors. Play-offs loom and they have failed there in
the last two seasons. Daylight for Norwich is darkness for Leeds, which
under Ken Bates's chairmanship is how the fans have learned to suffer it.
Man of the match Gary Doherty (Norwich City)
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