Looking back - 2017 | The Bluebirds vs. the Canaries
The high flying Bluebirds were struggling going in at the break against the Canaries back in 2017.
Neil Warnock’s men were on fire at home, with nine unbeaten in the league at that point, but they trailed at the break at CCS thanks to Marco Stiepermann.
City went into that first December match on a run of three straight wins, with Brentford, Barnsley (remember Pato's slide tackle last minute winner?) and Nottingham Forest (Wardy long range stunner) having fallen victim to the Bluebirds.
That day, following a drab first half showing, Warnock looked to his bench for inspiration at the break, and found it in the form of magician Lee Tomlin. Tommo, always creative, and always a threat, shocked Norwich City with a stunning second half performance in the number 10 role.
City levelled through Joe Ralls from the penalty spot four minutes into the second half and took the lead 63 minutes in after Junior Hoilett reacted quickest to a blocked Loïc Damour strike, stunningly volleying in.
Future Bluebird Josh Murphy was a threat throughout. Despite his best efforts, and City missing a second penalty, the away team's hopes of anything from the game were dashed late on.
Tomlin cut apart the Canaries with a beautiful turn in the middle of the park before finding Callum Paterson on the wing. Tomlin's fellow HT substitute, Omar Bogle, gave Pato's cross the finishing touch to seal an important three points.
It would've been a real shame for the game to not work out in City's favour, especially on Neil Warnock's birthday.
“Three points was enough for Neil,” joked City captain Sean Morrison. “I asked if that was enough for his birthday and he replied: ‘that’ll do’. I’m sure a few of the boys got him cheeky presents to try and get in his good books though!"
The then boss added: “In the end we made a couple of changes, which is again something I don’t often do. But we took the gamble and it worked for us – we could have scored five or six in the end. We had to change things and then in the second half we showed what we’re all about.”
City continued their brilliant home run with this win. The Bluebirds also cut the gap to the top of the table to a single point. And we all know how this season ended, with every win vitally important!
