Manchester City's woes increased at Carrow Road as they were held to a
goalless draw by a Norwich side reduced to 10 men after just 23 minutes - and
then lost Georgian star Georgi Kinkladze with what looked a serious injury.
Things appeared to be looking up for under-pressure City manager Frank Clark
when Norwich midfielder Craig Bellamy was sent off following an ugly spitting
incident.
But his struggling side failed to take advantage of their extra man, with
striker Uwe Rosler particularly wasteful in front of goal.
And in the end it needed a tremendous goalline clearance from Richard Edghill
in injury time to prevent the home side taking all three points.
City started brightly with Lee Crooks and Rosler both missing presentable
chances before Bellamy was caught by the hand of Kinkladze in what appeared to
be an accidental collision.
The Welsh youngster was clearly infuriated, though, and as the Georgian walked
away the Norwich man spat at the back of his head and was immediately shown the
red card by referee Barry Knight.
Strangely the visitors went off the boil after that unsavoury incident but
they could still have had a priceless three points had it not been for Rosler's
abysmal finishing.
The German striker missed an absolute sitter after 52 minutes, playing a neat
one-two with Craig Russell only to waste it all by screwing his shot across the
face of goal from the edge of the six-yard box.
And he was at it again four minutes from time, on this occasion missing the
target after Jason Van Blerk had done all the hard work on the left flank.
Van Blerk had come on five minutes earlier after Kinkladze was stretchered off
with a leg injury having appeared to kick the ground as he shaped to cross.
Norwich had rarely threatened until an amazing spell near the end when they
had three glorious chances to break the deadlock.
Scottish midfielder Peter Grant blazed an excellent opportunity just over two
minutes from time after a superb crossfield pass by Iwan Roberts.
But the real excitement came in injury time as Kit Symons was penalised for a
back-pass in the penalty area.
Danny Mills' fierce low drive was heading for the bottom corner but
fortunately for the visitors Edghill was in the right place to clear the ball
off the line.
Then Roberts saw a goalbound drive blocked as chaos reigned in the City area.
Teams
Norwich: Marshall, Sutch, Fuglestad (Mills 81), Grant, Segura,
Jackson, Kenton, Coote, Roberts, Bellamy, Eadie (Forbes 70).
Subs Not Used: Fleck.
Sent Off: Bellamy (23).
Man City: Wright, Brightwell, Tskhadadze, Brown (Whitley 76),
Symons, Edghill, Crooks, Russell, Bradbury,
Kinkladze (Van Blerk 81), Rosler.
Subs Not Used: Beesley.
Att: 15,274
Ref: B Knight (Orpington).
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