NORWICH SET A new club record of nine consecutive wins following a 2-0 triumph at Nottingham Forest as they edged another step closer to a Premier League return, while in League One Sunderland moved to within two points of second-placed Peterborough with a 2-0 in at Accrington Stanley.
Norwich moved 10 points clear at the top of the Championship table following early first-half goals from the prolific Teemu Pukki and ex-Forest midfielder Kieran Dowell.
Victory saw Daniel Farke’s side eclipse the efforts of the club’s 2018-19 and 2009-10 teams, who both enjoyed eight-match winning streaks in all competitions.
Both of those squads finished their campaigns on top of the Championship and League One respectively and the class of 2020-21 will take some catching as they close in on a swift return to the Premier League.
Farke’s men stamped their authority on proceedings at the City Ground from the start, with Dowell drilling a 20-yard effort just wide and Max Aarons calling home goalkeeper Jordan Smith into action from a similar distance.
And it came as no surprise when Pukki struck his 11th goal of Norwich’s winning streak to give his side the lead after nine minutes.
He sidestepped a Tyler Blackett challenge 15 yards from goal after receiving Lukas Rupp’s pass and fired a low shot into Smith’s bottom-right corner for his 22nd goal of the campaign.
The visitors doubled their lead four minutes later when Dowell exchanged passes with Rupp before rifling a 20-yard attempt inside Smith’s left-hand upright.
Forest’s only first-half threat came from Luke Freeman corners, but neither Ryan Yates or Tobias Figueiredo could find the target from free headers.
Forest twice went close to reducing the deficit early in the second half.
First, nimble footwork by Freeman created space for a 15-yard shot that drifted inches wide, before Grabban was sent clear on goal by James Garner but delayed his shot long enough for Tim Krul to smother.
At the other end, Pukki ghosted past Figueiredo through the left channel and forced Smith into near-post action.
The Finnish forward also pulled a ball back from the byline that Cantwell scuffed tamely wide, while left-back Dimitris Giannoulis went closer with a low 20-yard drive.
Moments later, Scott McKenna’s wayward header for the hosts failed to trouble Krul as toothless Forest finished the game having only netted twice in their last six home games.
Elsewhere, Jordy De Wijs scored a late winner for QPR as they came from two goals down to beat Millwall 3-2 in a lively London derby.
First-half goals from Jed Wallace and Mason Bennett put the visitors in command.
But Charlie Austin scored six minutes into the second half and Stefan Johansen equalised before Dutch defender De Wijs rose to head home Ilias Chair’s corner four minutes from time.
Lee Bowyer got his managerial reign at Birmingham City off to a winning start with a 2-1 victory against Reading at St Andrew’s.
Goals from the recalled Lukas Jutkiewicz and captain Harlee Dean gave the Blues only their fourth win in their last 20 Championship games, sandwiching Yakou Meite’s equaliser.
Victory for Birmingham was vital to ease their relegation fears and it ended play-off challenging Reading’s four-match unbeaten run.
Daryl Dike scored twice in the second half as Barnsley recorded their ninth win in 10 Championship games with a comfortable 3-1 victory at bottom club Wycombe.
Dike’s brace followed up Cauley Woodrow’s first-half penalty, with Uche Ikpeazu grabbing a late consolation for the hosts.
The victory for Valerien Ismael’s side re-established their five-point lead over seventh-placed Bournemouth in the race for the play-offs, while the Chairboys were pushed a little bit nearer to relegation.
Sheffield Wednesday ended a run of seven straight Championship defeats but their 1-1 draw with Huddersfield saw them slip further into relegation trouble.
Josh Windass’ first-half goal had Wednesday on course for a rare win but they were pegged back by a Callum Paterson own goal with 18 minutes left at Hillsborough.
Meanwhile Blackburn’s winless home league run stretched to six games following an uneventful 0-0 draw with Bristol City.
In League One, Sunderland made it 10 games unbeaten in all competitions as they won on the road at Accrington Stanley.
Ross Stewart put Sunderland ahead with a debut goal just after the hour mark and a Charlie Wyke strike wrapped up the win in the final five minutes.
Sunderland sit third in the League One table, two points behind Peterborough in the chase for automatic promotion.
The English and French are snipping off their nose to spite their face…..the abolition of the Heineken will destroy Irish provincial teams but it won’t do much for the English and French either……i personally wudnt watch an Anglo/French competition
The French will be fine. The money they get off top14 over trebles the Heino money. This won’t affect them. It will probably improve their league as the clubs will attract the best form abroad.
It’ll be the premiership of rugby in 10 years time.
We are a country with a population of 6 million (NI included), England 54 million and France 66 million. Combined that’s 120million. They don’t care if we watch or not. We are irrelevant really.
Sad state of affairs
In terms of a European competition, at this time we are very relevant. Huge gates, incredible exposure and three sides with a travelling support. Unlike the French clubs who don’t travel or the English clubs with paltry home attendances and major financial issues. This is an attempt to wrench control of the game by a few club owners and the media conglomerates. If its allowed to succeed, teams like Munster & Leinster will survive. Ulster too probably. But the sides in Italy and Scotland? If this isn’t fought tooth and nail then the game will be choked internationally. Rugby does not have the international infrastructure to allow an Anglo French club driven competition. Without the artifical support of the weaker leagues that the present competition gives then the game will shrink into irrelevancy much like its league counterpart.
You have millions of fans waiting to be awoken here in America and Canada, possibly Australia and New Zealand as well.
What needs to happen is a better outreach to markets in North America that still have strong Irish roots (Boston-Washington corridor, Chicago, Halifax, Toronto, etc.)
From there just about any city in North America has some Irish period of immigration and influence.
Figure out how to market it.
The Premier League cracked the US market, and the GAA has it’s sights set on it when their TV contract ends in 2014.
There are still plenty of duel citizens born here. Imagine recruiting potential that exists.
We are irrelevant on the grand scheme of things. They don’t need us long term and they know it. France will be the Premiership.
I’d hate this to happen, it’s just my opinion.
Naturalization is wrong and unhealthy for the game, big countries grow better and small countries like Fiji fail to achieve anything of note. The IRB is killing the game by allowing it.
Look at England with a player pool somewhere in the region of 150,000 and a international team with something 30% of non English born players. We’ve started to follow suit and it angers me, Strauss and next Payne, Stander etc, they are good players but theyre not irish. I want to support an Irish team with Irish players, I don’t want rugby to go the soccer route which is full of mercenaries (mainly on club level) and have no ties to the traditions of the club or country.
Irish rugby would suffer in an Anglo French run competition. But Italian and Scottish rugby would implode. If the Unions don’t stand up to the money hungry clubs now, then it will see Union become like league, played only by a handfull of elite clubs. An Anglo French competition would have limited long term appeal. Let them go, they will be forced to come back.
In my lifetime, the H cup has been one of the best sporting innovations on these islands. In the mid nineties, inter pro games between Munster & Leinster would barely top 500. Now we see great arenas such as Thomond Park & Landsdowne being party to tens of thousands. Yes there had been a sad decline in the All Ireland League, but that unfortunately has been the price of professionalism.
If the RFU clubs get their way, this current era could well be seen as a golden one for Irish rugby, with a sad decline on the way. Irish soccer had its heyday in the 50′s. Let’s all hope that Irish rugby does’nt meet a similar decline…
The English clubs want to gain ownership of the ERC competition , they want to break it in this form and hoover up the pieces on their terms. If the RFU just allocate their ERC places to other English teams there is still a competition and the rebel English clubs are in a difficult place as far as sustainability is concerned. I think this is the best thing for the RFU to do in the short term as it avoids a lot of legal stuff but does not shut the door. If they blindly follow the elite clubs then The RFU has handed over controll of all rugby in England to four or five club owners.
Hopefully that whole sport is abolished soon…. What a waste of time
You stick to your big ball.
You stick to your Heineken Cup…. Oh wait
Troll
Steo or Stephen to people outside of north dublin stick with your sport that know one outside of Ireland knows or cares about.
I’m confused with that comment, is it a dig at northsiders!?
Nelly I know he’s a troll but that argument is so weak and I wish people would stop using it. The only reason anyone other than England play rugby or soccer is collonialism
no dave, it’s not all about you northsiders, Christ get over yourself!!!
Ciaran, What a dumb comment, I don’t recall the Italians being colonised or the French, indeed the last time I looked football or rugby hadn’t really been invented when the Brazilians were last ‘colonised’ maybe you should join a library and get a good history book out. might save you making a prat of yourself on here with infantile comments.
I was just merely going to point out the fact that our greatest ever rugby player is a northsider. Don’t get your knickers in a twist there Pat.
O’connell is from Cork!!!!
Rugby is a rubbish boreing no skill pansie sport. Its for people who have no skill in real sports so they play this garbage. Running around wrestling for an egg. O yes that is entertainment.
David are you talking about dan carter?i think he’s from the north island of New Zealand alright
@paul were you not watching the last 10mins of the all Ireland on Sunday?it looked more like rugby than GAA.
A bit like GAA where there is only two real contenders sometimes in both codes
Ah here, I’m impartial to most sports, be it rugger, soccer, ga, but for someone who is clearly a gaa man, the irony of someone saying rugby is talentless is funny, Gaelic football is easily one of the least talented sports around. Not skillfull enough to play it on the ground so they pick it up and just run with it. Hurling, now that’s a talent but your a Kerry fan so football is your thing.
Hardly soccer is one of the biggest games in the world if not the biggest almost all country’s have a league or a national team and it wasn’t done by colonisation
A very close 2nd ;-)
By the looks ur from Kerry where they play handball and call it football where they fall over as easy as soccer players
I did indeed Nelly watch the Gaa. I Dont really know anything about it. Good game tho. Would like to see a live game at some stage .
Modern GAA is tripe. All it seems to be is pulling & dragging with very little skill. Given the dominance of the hand pass they should change the name to Gand Pass Ball. The final last week was awful. Give me hurling or rugby any day
David l. Im not a Gaa man. Im from London support the mighty Chelsea . Have done my whole life. I only start supporting Kerry this summer as there Irelands most successful Gaa team. I have nothing to do with Kerry. Same as all fans of Manchester u I am now. A moron if you will
He’s from Limerick actually.
Simon in theory can the provincial clubs pull away from the IRFU? I know the IRFU hold the purse strings but could it be done?
They can’t. They’re not clubs, they’re the professional side of each province. They are 100% owned by the IRFU and get close to 80% of their annual budgets from the IRFU.
Indeed, the formal titles are Munster/ Leinster/ Connacht and Ulster Branch of the IRFU, since the founding of each branch…
Munster/ Leinster/ Connacht and Ulster Rugby are effectively their brand names, implemented to protect revenue streams because they cant register Munster/ Leinster/ Connacht or Ulster individually as they are place names …
Why would they want to
Probably not a popular comment but: would love to see the whole Heineken Cup and the bigger leagues disappear and instead have a return to local clubs and local matches similar to the GAA. The disconnect between the big celebrity clubs and roots rugby has become really marked now: used to like going to watch local games. have little or no interest in the Sky Sports level stuff that has taken its place. Dont want to watch the ‘new’ game where you have14 scrum halves or a hooker in the centre and prop on the wing and the out half at full back (or any other tactics designed not to lose a game and the sponsorship that might go with it)
Isn’t that why it went pro in the 90′s!? It was only a matter of time (permitted it was successful) it would go down that route, sadly. Look at the circus that is the Emglish Premier League. Thing is a farce nowaday.
can I please have some of your tablets!!!
what you have just stated would take rugby back into the dark ages!!!
Pop down to your local AIL side any weekend to see a quality amateur game if that’s your thing Alan. I am a Leinster fan and go to a few games a year but i too can tire of it occasionally and really enjoy stopping in Trinity if DU are playing or down to St Mary’s or Skerries if i am out that way, reconnects you with the game! But to say you would like to see an end to professional rugby is a bit much!
When are Ken & Eoin getting their column?
As I understand it the FRU and the RFU have not endorsed the suggested Competition, the English and French Clubs are the one proposing it not their Unions. I also understand that the FRU have recently said they will not support it
There is nothing stopping Ireland joining the RFU & FRU. money talks and the money goes to those who have it.
Scary for the likes of Ulster or Munster to have to rethink their business loans for ravenhill & thomond. Only a matter of time before the players start to move to English & French clubs. Started always
Interesting stuff.The mid 90s rugby league Super League vs ARL in Australia? Greed brought a code to its knees.