LONDON, 2 March 2005 — A Robbie Fowler double inspired Manchester City to a come from behind 3-2 win at struggling Norwich on Monday.
Norwich were fully in control after racing to a 2-0 lead inside the opening 16 minutes through Dean Ashton and Leon McKenzie before Antoine Sibierski reduced the deficit with a close-range header.
Then Fowler became only the third player to notch up 150 Premiership goals seven minutes before half-time and after Norwich midfielder Mattias Jonson was sent off for two bookings Fowler bundled home the winner in injury time. The result pushed City ahead of Newcastle and Aston Villa into 10th on 36 points while Norwich remained stuck one off the foot of the table.
Match-winner Fowler praised his side’s character.
“We’ve not got off to the greatest starts. We had our backs against the wall at 2-0 down but we showed plenty of character and deserved to win in the end,” he told Sky Sports. “Once we had our momentum, we were always going to score more goals although it took us until the 92nd minute,” he added.
Keegan said: “It was a great start for them, to be fair. We knew they had to win tonight and we had to be ready for that.
“They were looking like every time they went forward they were going to score and we got away with it.” The former England manager added: “I thought Ashton’s performance up front was as good as I’ve seen from a Premiership striker this season and we’ve watched him a lot this season.”
Norwich manager Nigel Worthington reflected: “It’s a cruel game, we started very well and to get the goals was a big plus but after we got two goals we stopped doing what had got us into that position. “We stopped squeezing the ball and started giving the ball away.”
Worthington thought Jonson’s sending off for two indiscretions was fair. City got off to a desperate start after Ashton gave them a 12th minute lead. The Canaries’ record three million pound signing sent Adam Dury’s highball curling into the far corner of David James’ net, the England keeper scrambling back but to no avail.
Norwich doubled their advantage four minutes later when Ashton fed McKenzie when the ex Peterborough player lured James off his line and fended off a late challenge from skipper Sylvain Distin to roll the ball into the net.
Sibierski gave City hope when he pounced on a failed clearance by the Norwich defense to nod home from Kiki Musampa’s deep right-wing cross after 24 minutes.
It was all square approaching the break when Fowler shot home off a slide-rule pass from Sibiersi, which foxed the home defense.
After the hour mark Norwich were down a man after a clumsy tackle by Jonson on Joey Barton resulted in his second yellow card.
James produced a great save to keep out Ashton’s shot in the 71st minute and maintain the parity but City nicked the three points with Fowler’s second in time added on. The former Liverpool and England striker stabbed the ball home after picking up the rebound from Shaun Wright-Phillips’ close range strike.
Porto Preserve 14-Year Record With Benfica Draw
In Lisbon, Portuguese champions Porto preserved their 14-year unbeaten home record against Benfica when they drew 1-1 in a top-of-the-table clash on Monday.
The result enabled the European champions to remain top of the Portuguese premier league with 42 points from 23 matches, ahead of Sporting, who thrashed Estoril in a later match, and Benfica.
All three teams have the same points total and Porto lead by virtue of the teams’ head-to-head results.
Braga and Boavista are also in contention for the title, two points adrift of the top three after the same amount of games.
Unbeaten at home to Benfica since 1991, Porto opened the scoring after 66 minutes when South African striker Benni MaCarthy tapped in a cross by defender Nuno Valente.
