Norwich City recorded yet another comeback win with manager Philippe Clement watching from the stands, serving a one-match touchline ban.
Mohamed Toure stole the show with a second-half hat trick to give Norwich a 4-2 win, ending Roy Hodgson’s unbeaten start in charge of Bristol City.
A second hat-trick for the Australian Mohamed Toure in just three months after joining Norwich City for a £2.6 million fee in the January Transfer Window, was the driving force behind Norwich’s victory.
After an electric start to life in England, the popular striker suffered a groin injury nine minutes into the Canaries clash with Sheffield Wednesday in February.
However, he marked his return from injury with two assists off the bench against high-flying Millwall on Easter Monday, before restarting his goal scoring antics on Saturday in Bristol.
Despite a quiet first-half and a yellow card for simulation in the second-half, Toure has shown he has the ability to influence a game at a moment’s notice.
His first goal was a rebound after a sharp initial save from the Bristol City goalkeeper saw Toure’s header prevented. His second was a tap in after good work from Oscar Schwartau before his failed attempt to avoid Paris Magoma’s long-range drive gifted him his third goal and a second hattrick in Norwich colours.
Ben Chrisene suffered another set-back as Norwich’s full back injury woes continued. Speaking to the press on Friday, Clement revealed that Chrisene had been struggling with a shoulder injury for months, and is set to undergo a surgery that will see him miss the remainder of the season.
In Norwich’s latest defensive shake-up Liam Gibbs was employed at left-back with Kellen Fisher able to play in his more natural right-back position.
Interestingly, Gibbs was preferred to Staect, perhaps due to his poor showing against Ipswich Town last weekend. The midfielder had a solid game and did not look out of place in the Norwich backline.
When Emil Riis put the ball into the net in x minute it seemed that . All the momentum would be with the home side and for a Norwich team that seemed disinterested, going down two goals to nil could have been the final nail in the coffin.
However, the linesman deemed either Riis or Scott Twine to have been occupying an offside position and disallowed the goal.
Subsequent replays showed that neither player was offside and Norwich were let off. Goalkeeper Vladan Kovacevic would have been particularly relieved as he had palmed the initial shot straight into the path of Riis.
Instead, the goal was ruled out and Norwich were able to mount a second half comeback. Things may have turned out very differently if the goal had stood.
